Imprinting the Wand Wavers
by CrazyAna
Summary: On Reader Request! Imprinting was always about making the Tribe stronger. So, what happens when a bunch of Quileute shape-shifters imprint on people much beyond their ken and understanding? Add in a few rouge death eaters and a desperate vampire family, there are sure to be friends lost and gained, relations changed and a lot of chaos! Multicouple fic. Changed timelines. All OOC.
1. Chapter 1

**Imprinting the Wand Wavers**

 **Disclaimer:** **A big round of applause for J. K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyers, everyone. Thank you!**

 **On Reader Request!** Hoping you like it FatalRomance!

 **CHAPTER 01:**

"Forks!" grumbled Draco and Ron together making their other two companions sigh audibly.

"What's next? Spoons?" Draco drawled in his usual bored tone.

"What does the Order think we'll find in here?" Ron continued with his grumbling.

"Safety and aid Ron," muttered Harry. "You were there for the briefing or have you forgotten all about it already?"

"He was probably eyeing the breakfast spread while Shacklebolt was speaking," Draco snorted.

Right on cue, Ron's stomach made a loud hungry grumble making others snigger.

"Oh honestly, Ronald! Is it always about food with you?" Hermione spat out angrily. She was absolutely at the end of her teethers! It had been a month and a half or this nomadic wandering and she was pissed. All she wanted now was a hot bath, a good book, and a soft bed, in that order.

For the umpteenth time that day Hermione sighed again and reined in her temper, instead opting to ignore the three boys who continued with their less than entertaining tattling while she looked around the small town as they made their way as discreetly as they could towards the woods surrounding the main town area, all the while Hermione thought back over the past two months of her life.

The Battle of Hogwarts had been won by the light. The Order members were amazingly trained by Mad-Eye Moody first and Kingsley Shacklebolt after him. They had managed to kill or capture most Death Eaters, with only nine of the inner circle escaping the Order's arrest, and the dark had suffered higher losses than the light. While she still grieved the losses of her friends like Tonks and Remus, little Collin and even felt sad for now very scarred and slightly lupine Lavender, Hermione was happy they had been able to save most others, Fred being the topmost one on the list.

She didn't even want to think what George and the Weasleys would be like without him; and not just them too, she was pretty sure that whole of Wizarding Britain if not the whole of Wizarding Europe would grieve the loss of one half of the dynamic prankster duo that had made the world smile even under Voldemort's rule. Those two were the best set of out-of-box igneous and now that they weren't testing their products on unsuspecting juniors, Hermione had gotten into being one of their biggest and loudest admirers. She now had no qualms about either praising their products volubly or about suggesting ways to rectify errors or even throwing in a few new prank product ideas, depending on the needs of the situation. She only drew a line on actually testing the products for the first time, something the twins promised her they always did on themselves first. Hermione, however, was not yet ready for that risk.

They were now entrusted with just one task – capturing the remaining death eaters and if they could round up any Dark Lord sympathizers while they were at it, the better. Only Molly had sternly interjected for their safety and hence they were now moving around the globe trying to find more supporters around it, to keep more eyes open and on the look-out for any dark wizards on the loose. They had spent the past two months traveling and garnering important allies in the magical world and that was what had got them here, to Forks, Washington State, USA. A coven of vampires was supposed to be living here, and while their numbers were not too staggering, just a meager seven actually; they were believed to be gifted in ways the Order coveted and the assembled party of four had been asked to enlist them as aids, at whatever cost, Kingsley had instructed.

Hermione fleetingly glanced at her companions and snorted mentally at their rag-tag party. While seeing Harry and Ron with her wasn't really a biggie, honestly, the way things had been since the time she entered the magical world when she was 11, one would think the three were joined at the hip or something with a very strong sticking charm. Then she glanced at the last of the three boys, now he, she thought was an astounding addition, astounding of course being the mildest word she could think of just then.

Draco Malfoy, the heir apparent to the richest aristocratic family in Wizarding Europe, had been added to the Golden Trio's tours, much to everyone's chagrin. But again, he had played a key role, albeit inadvertently, when he refused to give the trio's identities away and then his mother had lied to the Dark Lord and kept Harry alive. These actions had earned him Harry's and Hermione's trust and when he had nervously approached the Order to offer his help, both Harry and Hermione had vouched for him without a second thought and added him to their group earning Ron's infamous ire. But after the first two weeks of travel even Ron had begrudgingly agreed that having Draco around had its uses. Not only were they traveling in more comfort, but they also gained access to various places thanks to his money and the trio's fame and where neither of that worked, but his notoriety also got the job done! His cunning and astute reading of situations had already saved their necks more times than Hermione would like to admit; and while the three Gryffindors were high on recklessness and a good disregard for self-preservation, he brought in the much needed sly planning into the mix making them almost invincible.

They were good together, Hermione nodded absentmindedly when asked about the camping place and the boys started setting up the tent. Draco worked on the protection charms, Harry on the concealment charms and Ron on the tent, leaving Hermione to scout the area around their to-be encampment. Nodding again, Hermione started walking through the woods, looking around while continuing with her inner musings.

 _Yes, we all do work well together,_ she conceded at last. And the even number always left her with a partner. Unlike earlier when Harry and Ron would talk quidditch or play wizarding chess, neither being an activity that interested Hermione, she now had someone to talk books and run theories with. While she was awarded the title of being the brightest witch of their age, Draco undoubtedly was the brightest wizard and talks with him were always intellectually stimulating when he wasn't being a total ass, that is. Even their verbal sparring left Hermione satisfied and waiting for round two. She smirked, _who would've thought the Slytherin Prince and the Gryffindor Muggle-born would end up being friends?_ But friends they were and she knew she could now count on him as much as she could on Ron and Harry.

 _How times change,_ Hermione sighed and turned to her left when she heard a light snapping of a dry twig, coming face-to-face with the largest wolf she had ever seen in her life.

"Woah!" she gasped. "Aren't you big! What do you feed on Wolfie?"


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 02:**

Jacob was patrolling around with his pack looking for the ever-elusive red headed she demon vampire, as usual trying in vain to block his thoughts of Bella from the others through their shared mind link, when suddenly the most alluring scent hit him. As if on auto-pilot, he broke from the pack and followed the trail of the faint fragrance, every step in the right direction making it stronger, urging him forward without forethought.

 _What the fuck!_ He heard Embry growl through the mind link. "Jake is that you?"

"Where are you digressing to?" Sam roared over the link.

"I need to find her," Jake answered on the mind link to his Alpha.

"Her? This better not be Bella again," Paul snapped angrily, her slap across his face still fresh in his mind.

The rest of the pack sniggered but followed behind their true Alpha, just in case he needed the extra help with whatever he was up to.

They all stopped near a small clearing, a petite girl coming into their view. Just as Sam ordered everyone to hide behind the dark green foliage, Jacob lunged to get a closer look and snapped a twig in half, the girl turned to look in the direction of the sudden sound and instead of holding his position behind the tall shrubs, he moved forward and came into the direct view of the girl.

The minute he saw her, his heart stopped beating only to pick up pace a second later, it's sound being loud enough to make every member in his pack hear it's fastened drumming. The second Jacob laid his eyes on her, he knew she was his sun and moon, his stars and his gravity. She would be the only one who would hold him in place henceforth, not the earth and his world would move around her. He would be anything she wanted him to be, she needed him to be – her brother, her protector, her friend, her lover. He was hers from now until his dying breath.

"Woah!" she gasped. "Aren't you big! What do you feed on Wolfie?" Her voice washed over him like a tide, drowning him in pleasure as he purred in sheer bliss, much to the amusement of his pack.

The girl and he stared at each other for a little while, too little, Jacob conceded when she finally blinked before speaking again. "I don't mean you any harm, Wolf," she smiled up at him, craning her neck to do so, so she could look him in his eyes. She raised her arms in the universal movement of surrender and continued her banter in friendly tones.

"She isn't afraid of him," Seth said, his astonished voice reverberating in every wolf's mind as he eyed the small girl and the large wolf unblinkingly, not wanting to miss a single second of the scene playing out in front of him.

"I'm going to hold my hand out for you to sniff, okay," the girl was saying, "so you'll know I mean you no harm, but," she stopped and glared a little at the big russet wolf, "you do any funny business and try to take more than a sniff and I _will_ kick your furry ass to Canada," she warned him. The difference between their sizes and her threats made the pack snigger.

Jacob smirked proudly, her British accent making everything that much more sensuous to his senses. _That's my girl. Wait! What? My girl? That's so not my girl…._

"I think she is," Quil interrupted his thoughts.

"Yep. You just imprinted her bro," Jared confirmed Jacob's sinking suspicions.

"And pretty strongly at that. I felt you're feelings more strongly than I did my own when I imprinted," Sam laughed.

 _"_ _Oh shit!"_ Jacob as the wolf suddenly looked petrified and Hermione turned half around to see what could possibly scare the big, big wolf so bad. Seeing nothing she turned around, only to be left blinking at the empty space in front of her.

"Did I just imagine it all?" she muttered to herself and looking again in the direction where the wolf last stood, she turned around and made her way towards a different direction, intent on checking the parameter thoroughly before she went back to the squabbling dunderheads she was travelling with.

 _Bath, book, sleep.._ she repeated the mantra in her head and thanked her lucky stars Draco was with them. She was fed up of the burnt food she cooked and thankfully the platinum blond felt entitled enough to ask his house elves to deliver their meals to them, irrespective of where they were.

She smiled slyly, happy in the knowledge that at least they got paid for what they were made to do now.

…

"What just happened?"

The pack had assembled near Emily's place, all phased back to their human forms at the edge of the woods, pulling on their clothes and walking together as a large gang, cutting an imposing picture as they walked.

"Jacob imprinted," Jarod knowingly informed.

"So that's what it feels like.." Embry smirked, wondering for just a fleeting second if he would ever feel that for himself.

"It was so… surreal yet.. beautiful.." Seth beamed at a scowling Jake.

"Oh bite me!" Leah huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't want her as my imprint." There was a resigned undertone to Jacob's new whine.

"Uhm.. it doesn't really work that way. Trust me, if it was under my control, my imprint would not have been a toddler!" Quil said, though his tone did not convey any ill-feelings about having Claire as his imprint.

"But you at least know Claire! _She_ was a stranger! She could be anyone!" Jake cut in.

"And you'd still care, because that's how imprinting works," Sam smiled at his own imprint as Emily stepped out to greet him and the pack.

"Why the loud jeers?" she asked, offering her scarred cheek to Sam as he always bent his head to kiss her on it first. She did not like it at first, but soon realized that he needed to do that for himself, it was his way of apologizing to her for it, of letting her know that she was beautiful to him even with it, and when she had understood that, Emily had stopped complaining about it and started basking in the obvious love that small gesture showed her.

"Jacob imprinted on a complete stranger," Seth gushed out, exploding at the seams with excitement at the new development in the life of the boy he saw as his hero. God knew, he really needed someone to get him out the new rut his life was stuck into concerning that blood-sucker loving Bella.

"A beautiful stranger," Paul smirked wickedly and Jacob growled at him, making everyone laugh.

"For someone who doesn't want her to be his imprint, you're sure possessive about her," Quil nagged.

Jacob glared at his pack mates, huffed in annoyance and turned around to make his way back to his own house.

"Where are you going?" Emily called to him from behind.

"Home! I don't want to be with these idiots right now," he spoke, his booming voice carrying clearly through to her, despite the surrounding laughter.

"Come back later to the First Beach. We'll go play football and try to figure out a way to find her for you," his pack mates called back.

Shoving a chosen finger in their direction, he ran towards his house. He had a lot of thinking to do and being around his pack did not figure out in his list of things to do that day.

"Who would've thought Jake would be the one imprint next?" Seth cooed happily, making his way inside Emily's house to look for food. The pack following him in, all rummaging through the chips and fried foods laid on the table for their snacking.

"I'm just glad it's not Bella! I don't think I could've lived through it," Paul shuddered making his pack mates laugh at his plight.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 03:**

"So Granger, what do we have here?" Draco asked Hermione as she reached the tent after her scouting.

"Nothing much. A few wild animals but no sign of magic, dark or otherwise. I did see a very large wolf though."

Draco pinched his nose and tipped his head, waiting for Hermione to continue. She shrugged. "No, that's it. I did see it but before I could get closer, it ran off."

"Weird," Ron mumbled around the sandwich bites making Hermione and Draco crease their noses in distaste.

"A lone wolf? Is that normal?" Harry asked frowning.

"Not really. They do tend to run in packs," Hermione answered after delicately chewing her sandwich.

"We keep our security charms on high and wands on person at all times until we know more about this wolf and his pack," Draco suggested.

"Agreed," the three ex-Gryffindors nodded and they all went back to their food.

"So, when are meeting the Cullens?" Hermione asked next.

"I've owled them, we'll just wait for their reply and take it from there," Harry filled her in.

"I don't know. Willingly going to a coven of vampires while we're still flushing with blood just sounds wrong," Ron grumbled.

"I agree but they are different. They are believed to survive only on animal blood," Draco replied, not looking up from his plate as he cut up the sandwich with a fork and knife before popping a small piece in his mouth, after which he finally looked up.

"What's to say though that they won't find us.. appetizing? We.. we three at least," Ron said, pointing at himself, Harry and Hermione, "haven't usually had the best of luck with not attracting danger. It's always us three shining like beacons in the face of mortal peril."

Draco snorted at the truth of Ron's words and gave a smug smirk, "Well, that's why Weaslbee, you have me in this party now."

The Golden Trio scowled at the lone Slytherin, not that he cared either way. Chatting a bit, they finished their snack and put the plates in the sink as Harry spelled them to clean and arrange themselves.

Wishing the boys a pleasant night, Hermione left for her room in the vast and exorbitant magical tent, courtesy the Malfoy heir, leaving the three young wizards to fight about which quidditch team was the best. _As if they'd ever come to a mutual answer for that question_ Hermione smirked and threw herself on the soft mattress on her big queen size bed. Looking around she sighed thinking her room could put big five star hotels to shame and wishing she had similar accommodations while the trio was on the run as her eyes drifted shut.

…

It had been two days since Harry had sent in the letter to the Cullens and they were yet to hear back from them, the wait as usual grating on the young magical folks' nerves.

"I hate this down time. It's like…." Draco swore colorfully, making Hermione zone him out.

"Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I need some fresh air. It's stifling staying in the tent waiting for the vampires to reply," Ron complained, getting up from his seat.

"Wait for me. I'll come with," Harry stood up and dusted his jeans out of habit despite the immaculacy of the interiors of the tent.

"Me too. I don't mind the walk. We can scout further towards the beach, may be even get a swim or a chick, whatever comes our way first," Draco replied, also standing up.

"Eww.." Hermione scrunched up her nose and made gagging sounds, her wish to join the boys immediately quelled.

"Alright then, we'll see you later Mione," Ron snickered, kissed her temple and made his way out of the tent.

"You too Harry?" Hermione asked, a little surprised.

"Well, I do want to learn Malfoy's tricks with the opposite sex," Harry grinned unabashed and followed Ron out after kissing Hermione on her cheek.

"Want to join us Granger? I'm sure this town will have someone that'll pop your cherry for you," Draco grinned wickedly, ducking to avoid the hex that came flying his way, then kissed Hermione on her forehead, much like Ron had and went out to join the other two boys. All three walking towards the beach, talking every now and again.

Not many who'd seen them through their schooling years would believe it, but the Golden Trio and their arch nemesis from school had gotten close after they had each saved each other's life before and at the Final Battle of Hogwarts. Though the good natured ribbing still existed between the four, they were no longer at each other's throats constantly. Draco no longer felt the need to insult muggleborns. Ron had somewhat gotten over his prejudices against Slytherins. Harry and Hermione had always been tolerant and were open to giving chances to those who deserved them and they both thought that Draco and his mother more than deserved a chance at a new life, especially now that they were trying to put their past behind them. Even the senior Malfoy was trying to rectify his ways to keep away from Azkaban, though he was still under house arrest, he was happy to be with his wife and did not want to rock that particular boat by even putting a toe out of line. The re-establishing of the Malfoy name was one of the main reasons Draco had offered his help to the Order of Phoenix after the war, and with his personal experience with those who had escaped capture made him a valuable ally of the Order, making its members jump with joy at his willingness to join the Golden Trio.

…

Jacob on the other hand was not having a good day at all, not only was Bella as estranged from him as ever, he had imprinted on a stranger who had literally vanished into thin air. As many times as they combed through the woods, they could only faintly trace her through her smell and then they lost her tracks again. To make matters worse, he still refused to accept his imprint at least in front of everyone else; in his mind though very little had happened beyond a complete flashback of their first meet accompanied by much fanciful thinking that he had to rein in every three minutes before his imagination became too raunchy about a strange girl he had met all but once in the woods.

And to top it all up, Sam had taken him to the elders just this morning and they had very excitedly told him that since he had imprinted while in his wolf form, his imprinting bond was much stronger than the others.

"Imprinting is basically the wolf side in you claiming it's life mate," the eldest elder had clarified to Sam and him.

"While in the human form, when the wolf claims it's mate, it's still the submissive one making the declaration. You, though Jacob, were the wolf when you imprinted, making your bond much stronger as the wolf was dominant in your consciousness when he chose his mate," Sue Clearwater had helpfully decoded the previous cryptic message.

"She may not be what you chose, but she will still be yours as no other can. You will still be drawn to her like no other," his father's words echoed through the empty hut they were all at.

Growling Jacob had phased and run into the woods, coming out hours later only to lock himself up in his room. _I need a run, may be that'll cool me off a bit._ He sprinted out of his modest house and ran towards the First Beach, liking the way the light breeze hit his face as he made his way towards where he knew his pack was, probably playing football or something.

…

"There comes the newest romance hero," jeered Paul as soon as Jacob was within hearing distance.

"I smell her. I smell Jacob's imprint," Jarod said softly, though all the members of the pack heard him and immediately started looking around for _Jacob's girl_ as they had dubbed the strange girl's name to be.

They saw nothing for the first few seconds before a trio of pasty white boys made their way towards the sandy beach.

"Fuck! Is that a leech?" growled Embry looking with undisguised hatred at the platinum blond one of the group. He did look beautiful enough to be one, everyone conceded in their minds.

Seeing the entire pack's attention centered on something other than the ball, Leah lifted her head to see what had caught everyone's attention and then swore! _Fuck! I'm so screwed!_

"What happened?" Paul asked, distracted by Leah's uncharacteristic swearing.

"I think I just imprinted," Leah looked at down at her feet, wanting very much to avoid her pack's eyes just then. _I'm gonna have to kill myself if he turns out to be a blood-sucker._

 _Fuck!_ The sentiment echoed in every pack member's mind. "Don't tell me it's the leech," groaned Sam. "You know the rules Leah," he started, further rocking their already deeply unhappy relationship.

"It's not like I can help it!" growled Leah, her hate for their Alpha shining in her eyes completely forgetting her own thoughts from not ten seconds back. "And you don't know that he is a blood-sucker. Do not make assumptions Sam!" she warned.

Sam growled in his deep Alpha voice, it's effect immediate on Leah and her eyes instinctually sought the sand under her feet.

"Woah! Aren't you guys big!" a polished British accent cut in through the tense atmosphere around the pack.

"What do you guys eat?" asked the red-headed one.

"Draco! Ron! Be nice!" warned the one with messy black hair. "Uhm.. sorry bout my friends here, they meant no insult. It's just that men of your size are a pretty rare sight and so.."

"Ah Potter! Stop trying to save face! You're ruining whatever little unhostile attitude they had towards us!" the platinum blond one spoke again, his voice making Leah's taut spine shiver in anticipation. Draco caught the involuntary action and smirked knowingly at the exotic looking girl making her blush, the reaction not going unnoticed by any boy present there.

"I didn't know Leah could blush," Seth said in an amused voice.

"Shut up!" snarled his elder sister.

"I am Harry, Harry Potter, and these are my friends Draco Malfoy and Ronald Weasley," Harry took the first step and introduced his group.

Sam nodded and accepted his outstretched hand, "Sam Uley," he said and then shook hands with the other two boys, discreetly feeling for all their pulses and sighed happily when he found one in all three. "And that's my pack," he pointed at the group behind him, "Jarod, Paul, Quil, Embry, Jacob, Seth and this is Leah," he finished, smirking when Leah shyly waved a hi at the newcomers.

"Your accent, it's British isn't it?" Seth piped up.

"You aren't from around here," Jarod asked at the same time.

"No, we're from London, England," Ron replied in his usual friendly tones.

"Please continue your game, we didn't mean to disturb you," Harry added and the three made a move towards the water only to be stopped by the boys again.

"You guys want to join?" Jacob asked, knowing Leah would want them around, well, at least one of them in particular.

Harry looked at Draco and Ron questioningly and shrugged. "We've never played football before."

"What!" echoed through the group in front of them. "I thought Britain had the biggest football culture!" Embry exclaimed.

"Yeah, we are all kind of from a school that takes in kids with special talents, and they have different sports there, so we never had a chance to play football."

"How hard can it be though?" Draco asked, eyeing the football with interest. "What do we have to do? How is it played?"

"You see that ball there? The one like the quaffle?" Harry pointed at the black and white ball and Draco and Ron nodded, you kick it to make goals, kind of like chasers do through hoops, only you can't touch this one with your hands. There are two goal keepers just like the keepers that manage the goal post and try to stop the scoring. Think you can manage it?"

"I'm up for a try," Draco nodded enthusiastically, his curiosity for learning something new coming through immediately.

"I could be the keeper," Ron shrugged and so Harry looked at the boys in front of them.

"Alright then, teams of five each. Leah you'll have to play to even out the numbers," Sam smirked at her again and then allotted Jacob and Leah to the Britisher's team while Jarod, Embry, Paul, Quil and himself made the opposite team.

 _They smell like my imprint_ Jake thought angrily in his mind but held his phasing in check and was soon engrossed in the game. The fact that the other boys sweated and drove Hermione's smell away from themselves might have had something to do it, but none the wiser.

After the first half hour was spent as a warm up, their game started and while the three magicals enjoyed the play, they weren't fairing too well against their opponents. Three clueless wizards was a handicap anyway. Leah being mesmerized every time she laid eyes on Draco wasn't probably helping matters either. And every time Jacob came close enough to the three Britishers, he could smell his imprint on them, frustrating him in the process. Overall, it turned out to be bad game for their team.

After a lot of teasing from the other team, the game was finally closed. Draco jumped when he looked at his watch and motioned for the other two wizards to leave, though they did promise to come back the next day.

"We should get Granger with us," Draco said.

"Yeah, Mione will be happy to see us do muggle play," Ron agreed.

Harry rolled his eyes as the three made their way back to the tent. The two knew nothing about Hermione if they thought even for a second that she would enjoy watching a peeve game of football at the beach but he knew enough about his best friend to know that if they asked, she would come, her own feelings on the matter be jammed. He smiled fondly thinking of all the times she had come down for to the quidditch pitch for his sake.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 04:**

"I think it's time to take some action," Hermione said, serving herself some of the meat pie Draco's elf, Pinky, had brought in for their dinner.

"I caught a whiff of conversation today at the beach, between those guys we met. One Dr. Carlisle Cullen works at the local hospital. I think he is the head of the coven. Maybe we could just fake an injury and see him there?"

"I'm not sure. Isn't a hospital too public a place?" Harry scrunched his nose in doubt.

"How about we set up a meeting for later then?" Ron shrugged.

"That could work," Hermione nodded.

"Always the tone of surprise," Ron sniggered at Hermione's scowl.

"But I suggest we give them one more day. Let's wait until tomorrow and if not, we make a move to get in touch with them again," Hermione added.

"Agreed," the three young wizards spoke together.

"And till then, you should come to cheer for us at the beach while we play football," Draco grinned, going on to tell her all about their evening making Hermione smile with happiness on seeing his uninhibited pleasure at a simple muggle game.

"Yeah. And we could try that muggle pisa thing after. Those boys swore by its taste and if anyone knows their food better than the Weasleys, it's them! You should see them, Mione, they're huge!" Ron continued until the quartet finally made a beach and pizza plan for the next evening.

…

The pack walked to the beach to find the three boys from the day before already waiting for them there, rubbing towels on their heads as if to dry their hair.

"We came in a bit early for a swim," Ronald informed them smilingly.

"So are we playing today?" Draco asked excitedly, his eyes roaming fleetingly across all to check for the ball, instead, landing on Leah who was looking back at him with slightly parted lips. He smirked looking into her eyes and she blushed lightly, color running up her cheeks. _That's inviting_ he mused.

"Hope you guys don't mind, we invited our friend over with us today," Harry said, refraining from rolling his eyes at Draco's predictable behavior with the opposite sex and instead opting to look at Sam, the guy he assumed to be the leader of the group. "Not sure if she'll play though, but she'll definitely cheer for us," he grinned.

"She?" Paul asked wriggling his eyebrows suggestively, immediately raising the protective side of the wizards for their friend.

"Yes. She. And if you have any desire to scion heirs, we suggest you keep well enough away from her," Draco snarled menacingly.

"Not only is she more than capable of kicking your ass, but she also has us and many more like us who'll willingly kick butt for her," Ron added furiously.

"This only gets more interesting," Paul grinned unconcerned, thinking his phasing would absolutely shut the lanky English boys up.

Harry was just opening his mouth to word his threat when he suddenly stopped, snapping his mouth shut and taking deep breaths before he smiled warmly, looking behind the big gang of people.

"Mione, you came! Come, meet our new friends," Harry held his hand up for Hermione to take as she rounded behind the big boys to reach her friends.

"Ron wasn't lying when he spoke about your size," Hermione smiled warmly at the pack and they all thought just one thing – let Jacob and Quil be back soon from their patrol. "Guess everything here comes in extra-large sizes huh? The other day I was in the woods when I saw this wolf about the size of a horse."

"There are no wolves in this area," Sam shook his head. "Must've been a bear."

Hermione simply cocked a brow. "I know what I saw Mr.."

"Sam Uley. Just call me Sam though. But there are no wolves here Miss."

"Sam then, you are welcome to live in your bubble of denial but I know what I saw and I am sticking to my story." Hermione folded her arms in front of her chest and raised her chin in challenge.

The pack sniggered behind Sam, chortling, trying in vain to control their laughs. "She's perfect to be a wolf's girl," Seth spoke softly enough so only his pack could hear him. He then grinned and stepped forward, offering the girl his hand. "I'm Seth."

Hermione shook the young boy's hand, unable to control her genuine smile at his kind brown eyes and welcome greeting. "Hermione," she offered.

Seth dropped her hand and turned to his friends, "That's Sam, as you already know. These are Embry, Paul, Jarod with his girlfriend Kim and that's my sister Leah. There are two more who'll join us shortly – Jacob and Quil."

Nodding, Hermione returned everyone's smile but froze a little at Seth's sister's frosty welcome, but shrugged it off when the boys began speaking of teams.

"I'll just stand out," Hermione volunteered and picked up a small log to sit on while the group divided itself into teams.

They started with a warm-up game again, with Harry, Ron, Draco, Leah and Seth on one team and the others on the opposing one. It was decided that when Jacob and Quil would come in, Jacob would join Harry's team while Quil would join the pack's.

They started playing in earnest about fifteen minutes into the game, the wizards putting up a slightly better fight as they had practiced a bit near their tent, transfiguring pebbles into footballs for it.

Hermione was happily rooting for her friends' team, cheering them all when two more players joined the game in a flash. She saw a wall of russet block the ball, just as he bounced it back, kicking it to Leah who passed it to Harry who moved it on to Draco. Within a flash the russet colored boy was just beyond Draco, waiting for the pass and just when he got it, he kicked it towards the goal post scoring the first goal for their team.

Grinning ear to ear, Hermione cheered loudly just as her friends clapped the boy on his bare back. He turned towards the sound of her voice and froze as if he'd seen a ghost instead of her; just as the opponent's goalkeeper, Embry, threw the ball at the team that landed squarely at the back of his head before bouncing off to the ground as Paul kicked it towards Ron's goal post.

All the moving players followed behind the ball while the new guy just stood there staring at Hermione open-mouthed, making her embarrassingly conscious. She waited for him for a second then a few more to move but when he didn't she gestured for him get a move on towards the ball.

"Go," she encouraged with a soft whisper and frantic hand gestures.

Grinning suddenly, the boy followed the ball and re-immersed himself into the game as Hermione stumbled back at the force of his smile. She could have sworn his smile had knocked off her breath. The game continued normally after that and though Harry's team lost again, he smilingly informed her that they were getting better and the margin was lesser than the day before.

"With enough practice, we'll be pros before you know it," Draco seconded.

"But you have to come to cheer for us every day," Ron pressed, his arm snaking to Hermione's shoulder.

The sight elicited a low growl from the back of Jacob's throat. While the wizards turned around and cocked a brow at his actions, his pack stood chuckling behind him.

"You played very well," Hermione smiled and complimented him, breaking the tension in the air and drawing Jake's attention towards herself. Her smiling face immediately calmed him, making him smile in turn.

"Thank you," he whispered huskily, wondering where the husky voice even came from. Yet, before he knew it, his imprint was being whisked away by her friends. He looked on helplessly at his pack mates and Sam shook his head in irritation as they watched the four youngsters disappear towards the few shops on the reservation.

"You might catch them near the eateries," he said casually to Leah and Jacob and turned around to run to Emily's place.

Mind suddenly torn between Bella and… _Wait! What was her name again?_ He looked questioningly at his pack and then at the curly haired girl walking away from him. "What's your name?" he shouted behind the group of Brits walking ahead.

Hermione turned mid-stride and smiled, "Hermione.. Granger."

 _Hermione Granger… Unique just like her._ He groaned in frustration, furiously rubbing his hands on his face and then he entered the woods for a long run.

…

The group of four wizards broke up after their pizza party. Harry and Ron went towards the tent while Draco and Hermione walked towards the woods to apparate near the hospital they had seen on the first day of their entry at Forks.

Just as they popped near the hospital, Draco transfigured their casual clothes into something a little more formal and appropriate for their meeting while Hermione threw a light slicing hex at her arm and Draco held her tenderly like a loving boyfriend would and took her into the building, both immediately requesting for Dr. Cullen.

The receptionist directed them towards the emergency room and paged for Dr. Carlisle Cullen who was by their side within moments of receiving the message. As soon as Carlisle appeared by their side, Draco shut the drapes around the bed casting a silent mufliato to keep anyone from overhearing their conversation and the two young magics got down to business.

"Good Evening Dr. Cullen. I am Draco Malfoy," Draco introduced himself, and Carlisle raised his brow, then Draco pointed at Hermione, "and this is my friend Hermione Granger." Carlisle's brows absolutely disappeared in his hairline.

"Is it _Lord_ Malfoy and _the_ Hermione Granger then? Of the Golden Trio?"

Hermione pulled her lips in a straight line and sighed, "Yes, we are. Sir, we have tried to get in touch with you but since we didn't hear anything from you, we had to resort to this. We need to speak with you and it is of the utmost importance, please could you at least hear us out?"

Carlisle watched the duo astutely but finally nodded. "Though now is not the place nor the time. Could you come over tomorrow around 11 in the morning? My family will all be there so we can all hear you out and make a collective decision."

"That'll be great. Thank you, Sir," Draco shook the vampire's cold hands unflinchingly and tugged at Hermione's next.

"Wait, let me patch you up first," Carlisle offered but the teens just shrugged. With one wave of Draco's wand and a short silent incantation later Hermione's wound healed and the flesh was left scar-less. "Marvelous," the doctor beamed.

"Could you please think of your house so we know where to meet you? We'll just peep into your mind for a look and see you there tomorrow." Draco pointed his wand at an uncomfortable looking vampire and whispered _"legilemens"._ Thanking the doctor, the two young ones left his sight, popping out inaudibly into the woods at night.

Draco and Hermione were just making their way towards their encampment when a big russet wolf blocked their path, his eyes gravitating towards their held hands.

"Woah Granger! You weren't lying when you said the wolf was huge," Draco grinned on seeing the large wolf.

"I told you," Hermione's nose flew in the air.

"Is it the same one though? Or are there more around," Draco tried preening through the woods to catch sight of any others loitering around. They both knew the first thing about controlling animals was to never let it sense your fear, so they both swallowed down their anxiety and acted all nonchalant; which considering all, wasn't very difficult. They both had seen things much worse than large wolves!

"Why don't they fear us?" Jarod asked in the mind link.

"No idea but until them, I used to think we cut a pretty brutal picture," Embry shook his large wolf head from behind the thick foliage.

"Well, they usually are in packs with an Alpha now, aren't they?" Hermione's soft voice cut through the wolves mind just as Jacob's involuntary purr accompanied it.

"This one's large enough to be an Alpha," Draco spoke again and everyone thanked their stars that Leah wasn't on night patrol right then. No wolf cherished the idea of tagging along with two reluctant imprinters on a very active mind-link that gave them an up-close commentary into their minds.

Jacob growled again when Draco tucked Hermione marginally behind him to ensure her safety should the wolf decide to attack and the wolf did not like that action one bit, growling louder.

"We felt you close to the wards but then…. Bloody hell!" Ron swore on seeing the wolf.

"Never knew they came in extra, _extra_ large sizes," Harry grinned making eye contact with the wolf.

"Does someone have a camera? I must take a picture to show that brute who dared to call me a liar," Hermione spoke with indignation.

"He didn't call you a liar. He simply implied you were hallucinating," Draco smirked.

"Whatever! There! That's my proof! That's my Wolfie…"

"Wolfie?! Honestly Granger! What are you 6?" Draco chuckled.

"Oh hush you!" Hermione fussed and folded her arms across her chest, a gesture the pack was getting familiar with.

"What say, Harry? Wanna get a pet?" Ron asked, slightly making his way towards the wolf.

"Yes Potter, why not? I seem to recall you had a distinct love for large dogs anyway," Draco said, unbeknownst to him that he had mentioned Harry's godfather.

"Oh shut up Ferret! Or I'll talk everyone back home into owning a hippogriff!" Hermione warned a scowling Draco much to the amusement of Harry and Ron.

"So, what's the consensus? What do we do with this wolf?" Harry asked again smiling at the big wolf.

"We are not harming innocent creatures! That's final. Now let's leave. The poor thing must be hungry," Hermione warned the three wizards, shoving them in the direction Harry and Ron came from. Then turning to the big wolf she flashed a big dazzling smile of hers.

"Speaking of his hunger, maybe we'd best disappear before we turn up on the menu," Ron conceded.

"He wouldn't do that. He won't harm us, right Wolfie?" Hermione smiled at the russet wolf and began walking towards it. Tentatively she touched his furry neck and he purred in contentment. "Have a nice hunt, Wolfie," she said moving in a little closer. "I'll see you around, okay? Good night." Hermione pecked the large russet wolf on his nose, giving him a warm rub on his neck again, then turned and followed her friends.

When she turned a few minutes later there was no sign of the wolf. "You've got a thing for orange hair, haven't you?" Harry asked wriggling his brows suggestively, darting his eyes between Ron and her.

"Yeah, the Weasleys," Draco affirmed.

"Your monstrous cat," Ron teased.

"And now that big wolf," Harry chuckled.

"Oh, honestly you boys!" Hermione rolled her eyes and stepped in through the wards, followed by the boys, all of whom immediately disappeared from the plain sight of the hiding wolves.

"Did they just…?" Embry looked stunned.

"Yeah, they did," Jarod agreed equally stumped. "Jake, not now man. We need to inform the pack about this." Jarod stopped Jacob from hauling towards the place the four had disappeared at and rounded up the two wolves, all three running back to the edge of woods at the reserve to go to their Alpha's place to tell him about the new _developments_.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 05:**

The morning dawned bright for a change at Forks and Hermione woke up first. She bathed and dressed herself in a semi-formal dress, deciding to throw robes over just when they were about to leave.

As was her ritual each morning, she took a quick peek into the rooms of the three other occupants of the tent to make sure they were alright and went up to the kitchen space to make pancakes for breakfast, one of the few things she could dish edible enough.

One by one the three wizards woke up, Ron only because he smelled the food cooking. After breakfast they got dressed to leave.

"We are willingly going into the vampire's lair and it does not even crack up to the top five crazy things I've done in my life so far," Ron grumbled and held Hermione's hand while Harry grudgingly grabbed Draco's so the two could side-long them to the place.

The vampires had all spoken at length all through the previous night about the wizarding folk and what they would likely want to speak about and by morning, they had all come to one consensus – they were strong allies and if they agreed to help them with their current situation, the Cullens would extend their help to them for their requirements. Rosalie being the only one who warned them to be cautious before agreeing to aid the magical beings.

The vampires heard loud cracks just beyond their driveway and Carlisle and Esme filed out to welcome their guests.

Draco led the small party and shook hands with Carlisle returning his greeting and introducing himself, Harry, Ron and Hermione to the entire vampire family, just as the seven vampires returned the favor.

"It's an honor to have the wizarding world's heroes in our home," Carlisle beamed his welcome. He had given a short background of their guests to his family, so everyone knew what he meant and who they were welcoming in their midst.

"Bringing us to the main question- Why are you here? What do you want from us?" Rosalie piqued in, cutting straight through the chase.

"Direct at it then," Draco barely hid his frown and followed the vampire family to their sitting room and the four magicals took the sofa while the vampires stood.

"Since you know us already, I think it's safe to assume you know about the recent wizarding war in the UK," Harry started and the vampires nodded.

"So long story short, while we captured most Death Eaters, that's what Voldemort's supporters called themselves," he clarified for the vampires, "a few of the inner circle members managed to escape before the capture. We, that is the Order of Phoenix, the main body responsible for Voldemort's downfall, are now trying to broaden our friend circle. All we ask of you is to keep your eyes and ears open and if anything untoward catches your attention to just bring it our notice."

Edward who had stayed quiet all through this, looked into Jasper's thoughts and found them echoing his own, so he finally spoke up. "It seems too simple of an operation to send in their top operatives for."

"It is, but everyone at the Order believed that between all our names, most would trust us and agree to join the just cause," Hermione answered.

"We would also not be averse to the idea of any or all of you volunteering your time and/or skills for the Order and they also believe meeting people as young as us is more likely to gain members for it," Draco casually shrugged, his words belying the exuberance with which the four were practically pushed out the door by Kingsley to get the mission started.

"Have you spoken to the mutts.. Quileute pack," Emmitt immediately corrected at Esme's motherly glare, "about this?"

"The local tribe?" Ron asked confused. "Why would we need to speak with them?"

"They are werewolves. Our presence has triggered some dormant gene within the tribe's youngsters and they are pretty strong and might make good allies for you," Alice spoke in her musical tunes.

Harry scrunched his nose at the mention of werewolves. Taking help from lycanthropes could go either way.

"Werewolves?" Ron asked, not looking too pleased.

"Yeah, they're these young boys who change into large animals to protect their tribe, mainly from vampire threats."

"At their own will?" asked Draco. "No full moon required?"

"What large animal?" asked Harry at the same time.

"Wolves.." Hermione suddenly looked up at the vampires expectantly and they nodded slowly.

"Well, they don't call you the brightest of the age for nothing, now do they?" Carlisle smiled almost fatherly at Hermione.

"Well, they do look strong," Draco raised an eyebrow in silent question at the trio.

Hermione bit her lip while looking at Harry first, then Ron and then Draco and gave an imperceptible nod right after they heard Emmitt snort. "They are built for the sole purpose of taking down vampires. What do you think their speed and strength would be like?" that statement alone settled it for the four magical folks. They'll be knocking on the tribal leader's door next.

"We can help set up a meeting if you so wish," Carlisle offered. "Going through us may not win you any favors with them but you'll get to speak straight to the pack instead of wasting time knocking on the wrong doors.

"Before we do that though, there's something we would like your help on with…" Jasper started and explained all about the newborn vampire army one of their nemesis was making and how she planned on taking down the family with it, the color slowly receding from the red headed wizard's face.

"Why is it always us?" they heard him mumble softly, though they were sure had it not been for their enhanced hearing they wouldn't have heard it at all.

Hermione had just opened her mouth to speak when Draco lightly shifted his hand to cover hers, silently asking her stay quiet. She bit her tongue to comply. "Can you give us a moment to confer?" Draco asked politely.

"Sure, you four go ahead and speak, meanwhile Edward will try to get their Alpha in for a quick chat. Groaning, Edward left the group to go to the next room to make the call he definitely did not want to make.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco left the sitting room and stepped out to the front porch close to the door and began conversing. The vampires doing the same as soon as Edward joined them in the sitting room after getting an affirmation from the Alpha.

"They'll be here in a few minutes," he told his family.

"Great! Now the whole place is going to reek of them," Rosalie rolled her eyes.

Ignoring her, everyone looked at Edward expectantly. "No," he shook his head, "I couldn't read their minds. There is some faint buzzing if I try too hard, but nothing more, not even a wayward thought."

"I can sense their feelings but it's nothing useful. There's the usual angsty mistrust from the blond, major distrust from the red head, hope from the raven haired boy and compassion from the witch," Jasper shrugged his shoulders.

"And I think they've put some sort of a barrier between us and them so we can't hear them now," Alice completed.

"They look much too young to be of any use to us," Rosalie spoke aloud the thought that was in many of their minds.

"Be that as it may, but they have taken on and won over something much worse than a newborn vampire army," Carlisle interjected while the other's gravely nodded, conceding to his point.

"As long as they help me keep Bella safe, I'll fall in line for whatever they want out of me," Edward spoke quickly.

"It's always just Bella. Do you never think about the well-being of any of your family?" Rosalie angrily glowered at Edward, cracked a nearby glass for good measure and stormed out of the room.

Meanwhile, Harry had immediately silenced the door leading to the house from the front porch and was looking intently at his group. "What do you guys think?"

"I say we stick to our instructions. Enlist help and move on, staying in a place for too long might turn against us," Draco put in his thoughts, though he knew in his gut what the bloody Gryffindors would make him do.

"We can't leave these people to suffer. Malfoy, there's an army of newborn vampires coming for this place. Have you all forgotten your History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures from the fourth year? Do you need me to tell you what it means? We have to help, irrespective of them reciprocating it or not," Hermione topped it with a glare at Draco.

"Granger, do you need _me_ to remind _you_ about newborn vampires? They'll devour anything human-like with a pulse. We can't take these risks without the Order's clearance," Draco firmly put his foot down.

"I am staying until I finish this here. You three can decide what you want to do," Hermione locked her arms in front of her chest.

"I swear to Merlin, Granger, your penchant for falling face first into trouble is going to get one of us killed someday. Or worse, bitten!" Draco growled lowly.

Harry and Ron sniggered. "You were right Harry," Ron grinned, "apparently death is not the worst thing that can happen in the wizarding world."

"There's vampire bites and expulsions!" Harry and Ron laughed at Hermione's affronted and Draco's furious look. Calming, they sighed.

"Look, Draco, we know we are staying. You know you are staying. We all know we'll be fighting the new born army because Mione will not leave this place otherwise and none of us will leave her here. So, can we just cut the non-required argument and settle this soon?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, let's wrap up here real quick and then grab some food." Everyone rolled their eyes at Ron.

 _"…_ _do you need me to remind you about newborn vampires? ….."_ Leah's heart beat sped up maniacally when she heard her imprint's voice coming from the glass house where the vampires lived.

"Leah.. relax…" Jacob advised just as Hermione's voice reached their ears.

 _"_ _I am staying until I finish this here. You three can decide what you want to do."_

"You were saying…" Leah cut through the mind link and flew across her pack, her lithe form helping her tremendously with her speed. Though Jacob's paws immediately put on a faster sprint.

 _"_ _I swear to Merlin, Granger, your penchant for falling face first into trouble is going to get one of killed someday. Or worse, bitten!"_ At those words the whole pack lunged forward, stopping only when they were standing right in front of the glass house seeing their four friends from the beach standing on the vampire's porch.

"They're quick. We've got to give them that," Ron smiled at his friends after looking at the giant wolves standing in front of them.

 _Seven,_ Hermione immediately counted, wondering of this was the complete pack or not while her eyes inadvertently latched on to the russet wolf and she gave him an amused smile, one she would flash to an old friend doing silly things across the street.

Involuntarily Jacob purred and then growled on seeing the vampires behind the four humans.

Harry turned around at the sound of the russet wolf's growl and smiled at the vampires behind them, turning around to face the wolves again. Looking right at the growling russet wolf, he calmly spoke, "Don't worry. We'd burn them even before they can lunge at us," and smirked.

"Cocky much?" Alice smiled at Harry, hypnotizing him for a fraction of a heart beat with her smile and then smirking in turn.

"Stale-mate," Emmett boomed.

Jacob did not like the easy banter between his imprint's friends and the leeches and growled again. Edward stared at Jacob in mild annoyance and then smiled happily within a second and looked over at Hermione in a whole new way. "Now that's interesting, Black," he whispered very softly so only the vampires and the shape-shifters heard.

Meanwhile Hermione and Draco silently checked out the pack, their eyes locking first with the russet wolf and next on the black one, the two biggest wolves of the pack. "We need to talk. Preferably face to face," Draco said.

There was some rustling before the black one turned around and went into the trees, emerging a few quick minutes later in black cut-off jeans and a tight black t-shirt.

"Bloody hell. Isn't that…" Ron trailed off as Hermione's hair sparked.

"And he had the cheek to tell me it was a bear!?" Hermione fisted her hands.

"Granger, don't piss off their Alpha," Draco warned.

"I hate to agree with him, but he's right Mione. _Please.._ " Harry silently slipped a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"Fine," Hermione hissed and turned her head just in time to see the russet wolf narrowing his eyes at her. She did the same and then her eyes widened on seeing the playful smirk of the pack's Alpha's face. The way he acted it felt as if he had heard their talk. And then with a sinking feeling she looked at him, only to have her suspicions confirmed. _That ass_ she scowled at him and he chuckled earning a glare from Jacob, all of it amusing Sam to no end. Putting a lid on it as soon as he came into full focus of the vampires, he turned all business.

"What did you want to speak to us about?" Sam addressed the question to the group on the porch.

"Sam," Carlisle moved ahead and smiled. "We wanted to introduce you all to our guests. They have a request to make to you and your pack mates and in turn, they will help us with our upcoming problem with the newborn army."

Sam raised an eyebrow at the four kids. Yes, he did think of them as kids. Barely twenty, if even that, he thought and wondered what they could bring to the equation to give them all an edge over the newborns who were considered to be more powerful than the older vampires. "What can they do, apart from making this more of a Disney production?"

Suddenly it was hailing on Sam, and only on Sam, in the middle of July! He looked up dumbfounded as Hermione giggled. "Well, I can assure you Mr. Uley, it's definitely not magic." No one had seen Hermione remove her wand from her boots but everyone saw her place it back there just as it stopped snowing Sam.

Draco shot Hermione a death glare before moving towards Sam, arm extended. "I am sorry Sam, but these Gryffindors are known for their risqué 'hexing first, asking later' attitude. Though I'll try my level best to make sure that does not repeat."

"I don't know what the problem is? He was burning up, I cooled him down. Why would he object to my help?" Hermione questioned looking innocently between the Malfoy heir and the Alpha of the shape shifting pack.

"She's just not used to anyone questioning her," Ron shook his head in amusement and went on greet Sam. "You'd best let this pass though."

Sam did not like the random instructions thrown his way but he held his tongue knowing that the one waging a war against him was an imprint and therefore protected by the laws. The fact that some of it was his doing was something he was extremely willing to overlook.

"So, to business," Sam said shooting a last narrow-eyed look at Hermione before turning to Carlisle, "what is this about?"

"Well, after that demonstration you know that they are magical folks." If anyone noticed Sam's slight faltering step, they ignored it. "There was recently a big wizarding war in the Great Britain. If you remember seeing on the news, the tower bridge collapsing, the random deaths, were all a preclude to that war. The times were dark, very dark. But the good prevailed, as I dare say, it always does. It was just two months back that the final battle was fought and they," Carlisle pointed at the witch and the wizards between him and Sam, "played the central role in bringing the dark wizard down. In fact, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger are termed as the Wizarding World's Golden Trio since they played the center role in killing the darkest wizard mankind has ever seen."

Sam eyed the youngsters with a frown then tipped his head in the direction of the platinum blond. "What about this pipsqueak?" He figured that while information was being given to them, he might as well gain as much as he could. Plus, knowing about Leah's and Jacob's imprint worked for the pack's betterment anyway.

"He," Carlisle tapped Draco's shoulder with his hard, ice cold hands, "is Lord Draco Malfoy, heir to richest family in all of wizarding Europe." Leah sucked in sharp breath through her teeth and her feelings of inadequacy flooded through the phased pack, before they all growled at her to control them, which she did almost immediately, albeit barely.

"You all have met before." It was a statement not a question from Edward. Sam nodded.

"Allow me to make better introductions then," Carlisle stepped in again. "This is Harry Potter, the hero of the recent war. He was prophesized to bring down that dark wizard since his birth." Harry looked a tad embarrassed. "This is Ronald Weasley, his best friend, one of the most loyal and courageous wizards. This is Hermione Granger, his other best friend, also dubbed to be the brightest witch of the age." Jacob felt pride course through him and Edward chuckled softly at his sappy behavior. "Together they are famously known as the Golden Trio and were at the forefront of the recent war." Everyone saw the three so highly spoken of wince at the name and Draco snickered. "Lastly, we have their very good friend Draco Malfoy." Hermione bit her inner cheek to keep a straight face while the wizards lost their lid and laughed.

"Nothing. Inside joke," Harry grinned at everyone's questioning look.

Carlisle then turned around and introduced Sam. "This is Sam, the Alpha of the Quileute Pack."

Everyone nodded and made appropriate noises at each other after which Sam very pointedly asked for the reason they were called. Harry stepped forward to explain. "While we did win the war and defeat the Voldemort, the dark wizard responsible for heinous crimes; some of his supporters escaped. We four are now touring around the globe to gain as many allies as we can to keep eyes out for us. All we ask is for you to let us know of any suspicious activities in the area till their capture. And if you would, should need arise, fight with us against them. We won't lie to you. The recent war has cost us dearly, more so in terms of lives and while the wizarding Britain is taking a better shape, we fear that if another uprising breaks up, we may not have numbers strong enough to go against them. Any and all the help we can gather is appreciated."

"There is a group, The Order of the Phoenix, who played the lead role in fighting against Voldemort's tyranny while we three we on the run the whole of last year…"

"Why were you guys running away?" Sam caught Harry's words the second they left his mouth.

"We were on a different assignment. We were hunting down horcruxes." Ron answered Sam instead.

"Horcruxes?" ran through everyone's mind. Hermione sighed and stepped ahead. _Trust my boys to jumble up already muddled thoughts!_

"Just like there's good and bad in every aspect whether it be people or vampires," she could swear she heard a lot of snorting from the pack's side of the gathering, "there is also good and bad magics. While magic is only an energy, how you use that energy determines if you are a light wizard or dark. Some of the wizards that use magic for darker purposes, turn dark with time, their mind and magic twisting irrevocably."

"Just like we have the rich and poor dividing this world, the wizarding society is divided on the basis of blood. There are the purebloods, those that are believed to have unadulterated magic in their blood that can be traced back through centuries, if not millennia. Draco and Ronald both come from two of the oldest pureblood families of England." Leah shivered at that particular news. "The purebloods, for the longest times have believed in, and quite often advocated blood superiority, whether it be for top-notch jobs within the ministry or most any other sector within the magical community."

"Conversely, at the lowest are the muggle-born. Muggles is the term used for non-magic people, muggle-borns are those witches and wizards that are born to non-magical parents. I am a muggle-born, my parents are muggle dentists," Hermione's breath slightly hitched at that, a pain crossing her features, making Jacob want to rush to her, to comfort her. Though he held himself back while trying to refrain from hearing any of the sniggering of his packmates, along with Edward's amused voice.

"Between the purebloods and the muggle-borns are the half-bloods. Typically, they have one pureblood and one muggle-born parent, like Harry here; but in a few cases one magical and one muggle parent scenarios have also been found – such cases are rare though, because the Statute of Secrecy forbids us to expose our powers and our society to muggles, discouraging an intermingling of the two species. Ironically, the one with the magical ability can tell his or her spouse about their own magical ability only when their child is identified with magic and has been asked to enroll to our school at the age of eleven. Most prefer to live out of the heartache of keeping such a big secret from their spouses and so the marriages between magical folks and muggles are extremely rare."

"Now that you all have a basic understanding of the magical society, let's come back to Voldemort. There have been a few dark wizards through time – the most recent one being a bloodthirsty madcap who called himself Lord Voldemort. He believed that only people who were born into families that could trace their magical lineage down through centuries, namely the purebloods, should be allowed to practice magic. To keep their lineage magical, most pureblood families inter-married, in essence making all the pureblood families related to one another is some way. Like I'm sure you all have studied, when the same DNA is mixed into the gene pool consistently, the blood gets weaker. The same thing happened to these families and the intermingling of the blood weakened their offspring's magical abilities, raising the number of squib births in the pureblood families. Squibs," she quickly clarified, "are non-magical kids born to magical parents. Voldemort abused this simple genetic error and accused muggle-born wizards and witches like myself to have stolen their magic for ourselves. Magic is something you are born with and by extension cannot be stolen or gifted. Most purebloods however found this a just reason and went on a nation-wide rampage behind the homicidal lunatic to clean the nation of the bad blood, of people like me. We were labelled with derogatory names, our blood was dubbed to be as bad as mud and we were hunted, captured and killed without a second's thought."

"This entire thing started about twenty years back. A crazy she-bat, I had the misfortune of studying under, made a prophesy that a child born that year just as July ended would bring Voldemort's downfall. Predictably, Voldemort went berserk and killed all kids born in July of that year, all except two – Harry, and one of our other friends, Neville Longbottom. On Halloween, nineteen years back, Voldemort reached Harry's parents' safe house as one of his father's best friends ratted them out. He killed his father right at the door and his mother by his cradle. On her dying breath, his mother whispered a long-lost spell that protected Harry. She roused ancient magic of love and sacrificed herself for her only son, giving him the ultimate protection. When Voldemort turned the Killing Curse on Harry, it backfired and killed him on the spot; or so was believed for the next eleven years."

"Harry was moved to his mother's muggle sister's house and it was only on his eleventh birthday when he received our school's invite did he know that he was a wizard. Predictably, as our hero stepped back into the wizarding world, chaos ensued," Hermione smirked while Harry playfully scowled at her.

"Harry befriended Ron on his first train ride to Hogwarts, our school, and those two and I became friends by the Halloween that year. Since they were eleven and I twelve, we have fought Voldemort in some form or another almost every year, details of which if you all are ever interested we shall provide over a dinner invite you can issue us," she joked to lighten up the atmosphere.

"By the time we finished our fourth year, Voldemort had resurrected and the battle for all intents and purposes had begun. By the end of the fifth year everyone stopped being in denial as he made an appearance at the Ministry of Magic in London. In the sixth year, our then Headmaster told Harry about how Voldemort had resurrected. He used these nifty little thing called horcruxes."

"This," Hermione said pulling her wand back out and whispering a spell softly, "is my patronus." She smiled and petted her otter while the others gazed in awe at the wispy white animal that seemed to rub its head on Hermione's hand and then strutted about playing with every vampire and wolf alike before coming back to Hermione and disappearing. "A patronus is the purest form of magic. Every wizard and witch has a different animal, depending on their core values and every animal in turn signifies different things. We use them as a shield against one of the most soulless creatures that feed on people's happiness; but they can also be used for communication as a patronus cannot be intercepted. And as opposed to patronuses, horcrux is the darkest form of magic. One needs to kill heartlessly enough to break a part of their soul that is essentially stored into objects, lending the wizard immortality until that object is destroyed. Though it must be borne in mind that once the soul splits, the person only ever lives a half-life. The soul can rest in the object as long as time and these objects turn dark because of the dark magic in them, making their destruction very difficult. Voldemort had not one but seven different pieces of his soul stored in different things." There were several gasps around. "On our year of run, we three were actually trying to find these things and destroying them, for it was only after destroying them all that Harry would have a fair shot at taking Voldemort down."

"It all worked at the end and in May this year the Final Battle was fought at our school and by sheer will, we won. We were short of allies then so the current Headmistress of our school evoked ancient magic around our school and the warriors of our school fought with us. But we may not be that lucky next time. Our numbers have dwindled to an all-time low under Voldemort's rule for the past few years and because of the recent battle. So, we now need allies to fight with us should the need arise. We do not force you, but if you do join us, we would be indebted to your tribe and in the magical world, a debt is always paid." Hermione stopped her long rant and stepped back beside Harry, silence reigning between them all for precious few seconds.

"We've promised the Cullens our alliance in their coming battle against the newborn vampires army should they promise to return the favor to us. We ask the same thing from you. You promise us your aid for our time of need and we do the same for you and yours," Draco finished off, ever the businessman.

The ensuing silence grated on Hermione's nerves until she spoke up again. "Why don't you guys think about it and tell us in a couple of days? We can arrange to meet up in two days' time? Shall we say six-ish at our tent?"

The wolves nodded and so did the vampires.

"Great, we'll see you then," Ron nodded at the Cullens and tactlessly turned to the wolves and said, "We'll see you in the evening at the beach."

The wolves left with a lot of snorts just after the witch and the wizards passed them. Hermione bent a little way beyond and picked up a muddied envelope from the ground, turning it around she saw it was addressed to the Cullens.

"Guess we know why we never got a reply from them," Draco said when he saw what Hermione was holding.

"Oh that's right! Owls don't go close to other predators! How could I forget?" Hermione pulled a face.

"Good thing we used a postal owl then. Had it been Pig, Ron would have flipped to have a no-show from that stupid bird," Harry sniggered.

"Hey! Watch it!" Ron said and the four left for Forks to grab some lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 06:**

"So, Jake. How does it feel to imprint on a witch?" Seth teased his friend.

"Go away," was Jake's only response.

"Do you think… we should help them?" Embry posed the question to Sam but he knew everyone was attuned to it.

"We will fight the newborn vampire army if they set foot on our lands, anyways," Jared said as a matter of fact.

"Yeah.. but witches and wizards? Isn't that a little too far a pull for us?" Paul floundered.

"Yeah, like shape shifting to kill vampires is normal," Jake snorted.

"Snap out of it Jacob," Sam growled barely containing his Alpha voice. He and the pack had just about had it with him. First his obsession with Bella and now his reluctance with his imprint. _Was he ever planning on cleaning up his act?_

"I will stand by the wizard," Leah finally spoke after a long contemplation. "Might as well get to know him, right?" She refused to let her packmates know that she felt absolutely out of her depth.

"So, you're thinking of taking things further with your imprint?" Sam questioned her cautiously. He felt guilt-ridden every time he looked at Leah and if he could do anything to assist her happiness he would. Sam wanted Leah to be as happy with her imprint as he was with Emily, only then he thought he could forgive himself for the grief he had caused her.

"Like I have a choice," Leah snorted and her glare turned icy again as she looked at Sam.

Sam clenched his fists to keep the anger in him from rising. Just as Seth cut in to avoid a showdown. "I think we must. We are extending our support to the leeches to keep other leeches away; we can definitely support a group that has two of our pack's imprints. It is after all a law to protect imprints, isn't it?"

"From the looks of it, these particular imprints don't need it though, do they?" Paul raised a brow.

"None the less, we abide by the laws," Sam announced and his pack assented.

Just as they were filing out of Sam and Emily's house, they heard the rumble of a beat-up truck, moving excruciatingly slowly towards them. Jake's ears perked up at the familiar sound and he dashed out of the porch, waiting for the truck to get to them.

It was the first time Jake was seeing Bella after his imprinting. He didn't know what he was expecting, but what he felt was definitely not it. Every time before his imprinting, simple thoughts of Bella had set his heart racing, but now that she was there, in front of him, he only felt a friendly love for her. It was as if the special bond he had always felt between them had been severed and he felt no remorse at having that cord cut. And it was this feeling of absolute loss of remorse that set his teeth on edge.

He almost had to push his arms to accept her hug and engulf her in them and even then having her in his embrace felt _wrong_. Gritting his teeth to keep his arms around her while trying to bring back some of his older feelings for her and failing miserably, Jake finally pulled back.

"Hey Bells, what's up?"

"Nothing. Just missed my friend. Thought I'd see you for a bit," Bella smiled at him and then turned her head to nod at the pack.

"We were heading to the beach for some football," Embry said.

"Wanna come with?" Seth asked Bella. "We've made a few new friends that come to play with us. We could probably use you to even out the numbers. Paul is just heading out for patrol so..?"

"Sure, why not?" Bella shrugged and Bella with Jake, Seth, Leah, Embry and Jared all walked the short distance to the part of the beach they usually played at.

Not five minutes in, they were joined by the wizarding folk, the boys from both sides giving each other knowing smirks while Hermione rolled her eyes at the juvenile behavior and Bella looked from Jake to others in confusion.

"You two joining us today?" Jared turned to the two non-pack girls and asked. Bella nodded her head for yes while Hermione looked unsure.

"That'll be the day," Ron laughed, "when Mione's playing a sport with us. She can barely stand wi.. chess," he immediately corrected himself.

"Why? Don't you have gym classes in your school?" Bella asked curiously, giving the new girl a once over. She looked pretty enough in her skinny jeans and t-shirt, Bella thought, though she was not even close to being that good-looking that her mere presence warranted the breathless shiver she felt pass through Jacob when he saw her.

"Luckily for her we don't. She would have lost her perfect score otherwise," Draco grinned naughtily at Hermione making her narrow her gaze at him.

"Oh, I remember when we had something close to sports in the first year. Not only was she terrified, she barely let me do it calling me an idiot for challenging Draco," Harry laughed remembering their first flying lesson.

"Yeah, one of my elder brother's wept while trying to teach her that sport last year. Something _all_ of us had perfected even before we hit our teens," Ron dramatically rolled his eyes.

"Oh hush you!" Hermione glared at her so-called friends. "If you wanted me to play all you had to do was ask."

"Come play with us Mione," Harry said, giving Hermione puppy dog eyes. She finally relented on a long sigh. _Damn those puppy dog eyes!_ Ever since they had learned about its effect on Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny and now even Draco had developed a penchant for using them against her to make her do their bidding, and unfortunately it worked. _Every_ _single_ _time_.

"I just have to kick the ball right?" she asked resigned.

Everyone grinned. "Similar teams like always? Harry, Ron, Draco, Leah, Jake against the rest of us?" Jarod asked.

"Sure. What about these two?" Seth asked looking from Hermione to Bella.

Bella immediately found her way beside Jake. "I'm with him," she said, slightly rubbing herself on Jake's arm making him instinctively pull his arm away and tuck it behind himself as he looked at Hermione apologetically and then visibly shook his head and turned around, going the other way.

 _Curious._ Hermione pouted but shrugged. "Guess I'm with you guys then?" she asked tentatively but smiled when she saw the warmth in Seth's eyes as he brought her over on his team's side.

"You lose, you make breakfast for a week, Granger," Draco smirked.

"And vice-versa," Hermione glared at him, then quickly turned to her team. "How do I kick the ball?" The tall boys laughed at her panicked expression.

"You hate to cook?"

"No, I'm just bollocks at it."

"Then why do they want you to cook?"

"Because.. while I stink at cooking, I make mean pancakes and those boys are lazy asses that never wake up early enough to put something on the table, anyway," Hermione complained. "We've got to win this, please!"

"In that case, why don't you just do goal keeping? We'll try our level best to keep the ball away from our side of the field."

"Whatever works," Hermione nodded and stood on the far side opposite Ron.

The game began and continued like normal with Hermione's team bagging the win. _Thankfully! Malfoy would not have let me live otherwise!_ Her only confusion was Jacob. He simply refused to hit a goal. And every time he hit the ball haywire, Leah smacked him up his head, (as if he was throwing the game on purpose, which thinking back to the last game Hermione had seen him play, he probably was,) and Jacob would turn and scowl at Leah. Leah, Harry and Draco had obviously tried with all their might to score, but her team would stand like a wall between her and them and what followed was anyone's guess. Bella only managed to fall too often in the soft sand at the beach.

At the end though, Hermione was way too happy with the results. Not many knew it but Draco was an amazing cook, even better than Harry since Harry only knew day to day stuff while Draco knew the complete works from baking to grilling. _Oh this was going to be fun._ Her happiness at winning was only second to Ron's happiness at losing for now he too would get Draco's gourmet cooking.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 07:**

"Malfoy! Have you requested your elves to drop the food by 5:30 our time?" Hermione asked while cross-checking all the arrangements for the impending meeting between the wizarding folks, shape-shifters and vampires.

"For the twelfth time in the last ten minutes… YES! I have told them to get the food and refreshments here by 5:30 our time. They'll even wait to see if they're needed to serve. Also, as per your kind suggestions," _or incessant harassing, more like,_ Draco rolled his eyes, "I've also asked mother to give them a leave of absence tomorrow, should they so wish. Now will you please just let me be? I need to go through all these notes before the guests get here."

Hermione gave him the cheeriest smile she could manage and turned back to the tent to have a look around. Considering it was the Malfoy family tent, it was big enough to accommodate forty or so people right there in the central hall area. She had conjured up chairs and expanded the table of four to seat thirty. Since her nerves were rattling, she had even put up center pieces at small distances on the long table. The elves would just need to set the food on it and they could begin eating. As a gesture of good faith, Hermione had even asked the Order to have someone deliver blood pops from Honeydukes for the evening for the vampires. She did not like the idea of everyone eating but them and remembered reading somewhere that the deadlier the animal, the more satisfying the bloodlust for the so-called vegetarian vampires, so she had given careful instructions to only buy blood pops of feral cats and of course dragons. Post dinner, they all would talk and if all went well, they would have more allies out of this trip than the Order ever thought possible. There was a lot riding on this meeting and Hermione just knew it in her bones something was gonna mess up, it always did! They planned, they executed and thereafter all hell broke loose. It was almost a given with her friends and given the myriad people attending this meeting something was bound to happen.

While Hermione's money was riding on Ron messing things up with his patented lack of tact, the first blow of the evening, ironically enough, came from herself.

All had been just peachy when the pack of shape-shifters had come in first. Harry and Ron had taken their wards down from around the tent so their guests could find them and with their stellar sense of smell, they had found them quite easily indeed. They pack had halted out of the tent, wondering how they'd all fit in while looking at the tiny tent in front of them. With one glance at the tent, Jacob, much to Draco's amusement had thrown a few feral snarls at the three wizards.

"Chill, mate. It's a lot bigger on the inside. Jeez, wonder what his problem is?" Ron muttered the last part under his breath though everyone heard him nonetheless.

Seth finally plucked up enough courage and walked in the tent and then swore in awe, making his pack finally follow him in it. They were all marveling at the interior of the tent while Jacob and Leah were giving the corridor leading towards the bedrooms a small smile, especially after Draco casually mentioned that it had six baths and bedrooms, kitchen and one spare room that they were using now as a potions lab.

Just as the pack settled, the vampires came in and again the marveling session began. It was then that Hermione's temper immediately hit the roof, her hair crackling in her fury, just as Harry, Ron and Draco took a few steps behind her to hold her still, though to no avail.

"Edward Cullen! You better not be planing on snacking on her in here," Hermione suddenly burst roaring in anger, making everyone flinch at her tone.

And that did it for Edward. "Watch what you're saying witch," he snarled in return.

"I think there's been a slight misunderstanding…" Carlisle started.

Hermione, in her fit of rage was having none of it. "While I completely believe in equal rights for all and am probably the most tolerant person around not begrudging you your natural diet, despite the means vampires need to use to attain their source of nourishment, even I draw a line at watching you play with your food before you eat it!"

"I am not planning on helping myself to her blood…" Edward roared angrily, making the shape-shifters hiss in rage, one more louder than the rest. Jacob was practically held back by Quil and Embry to avoid him from jumping on Edward.

"Why then have you brought your singer to our house?" By this time Hermione was standing toe-to-toe with Edward, craning her neck to glare him in the eyes as he bent his head to do the same.

"This is Isabella Swan.."

"Oh dear Lord," came a soft gasp from the tent's flap. "A vampire in love with his singer! I've really seen it all!" chuckled the red-head at the entrance. "A quick question though, Vampire, do you love her, love her or do you love her like Ron loves his steak?"

"Ginny!" Ron hissed indignantly, crossing over to pull his sister.

"What? That was a fair question.." Ginny shrugged and turned to look at Edward as if waiting for his answer.

"Witches!" Edward growled, taking an offensive stance, ready to pounce on the two any minute now.

Draco winced. As if the stupid git trying to take down Hermione, the wisest witch of their age, while in the presence of Harry, Ron and himself nonetheless, wasn't enough, the idiot was now challenging the Weaslette. Wasn't her hair color enough of a give-away to help prats like him understand to just keep the fuck away?

Bella put a restraining arm on Edward's shoulder just as his coat caught fire.

"Next time, Cullen, you take that tone with me and it will not be just your coat that's on fire," Hermione warned him menacingly and just as suddenly the fire went off. "And while we are at it, once more if I feel you trying to push your way in my head, I will fry that brain of yours so bad, you won't know a tree from a werewolf."

"I second it," Harry agreed from his place near the table.

"Me too, man. It gets irritating real quick," Ron seconded.

"You're free to try it with me, but know that I _will_ return the favor," Draco smirked.

"Well, you haven't tried it with me but I'll just slide in and say stay out of my head too," Ginny grinned to rile Edward up further.

"I'll never know why you think you're such a big shot, but you aren't; at least not in my eyes. You are an arrogant, self-centered prat your family is kind enough to put with. We are not here to help your romance flourish, we are here for something much more sinister. So while we may offer your family our help, never for once believe we'll tolerate your shit. Have I made myself clear to you?"

Hermione kept up the eye contact until Edward gave a slight nod of assent.

"Good," Hermione returned the nod then turned and hugged Ginny. "Ginny here has brought in some treats for you all from a place close to our school, we do hope you all enjoy them." Hermione smiled and as if nothing had happened, turned and greeted the rest of the Cullen clan.

Just as she shook hands with Jasper, she held it for a second. "While I see you as an old friend, since you were the topic of my thesis in my fourth year, I do not appreciate having my emotions manipulated. Next time, I am angry, do not send in the calming waves. In my fit of rage, I just might attack you first."

Rosalie chuckled from her place just ahead of the two and announced unabashedly. "I like this one. She's got spirit."

Much to everyone's surprise, Hermione turned, looked at the blonde beauty and gave her a big, warm smile. "I like you and Emmitt too. I've always had a soft spot for the honest ones anyways."

Ushering them in, Hermione finally took her place at the table with Harry on her right and Draco on her left. Ron was on Harry's right and Ginny on Draco's left. Beside Ron, the vampires seated themselves as the shape-shifters seated themselves after Ginny. The circle ended with Edward on the vampire side, Bella beside him and Jacob after her, followed by Sam and then the rest of the pack.

Ginny put the boxes she was carrying from Honeydukes on the vampire side of the table and with a flourish of her wand had the boxes open. "These are wizarding candies," she explained to the vampires. "They are only made of blood and as per Hermione's instructions, I've picked you the most vicious of the creatures. This is from Nile river crocodiles, this one from Amazonian feral cats and this one, right here is from dragons. Hope you like them," she smiled and made her way beside Draco again, smiling at him as she sat down on the chair beside him.

"Weaselette," Draco greeted her.

"Ferret," she returned with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Sitting down, Ginny glanced up to look at the shape-shifting boys, _or maybe they are men_ , she grinned in her mind and looked straight into the brownest, kindest eyes she had ever seen, only to find them staring right back at her. For a second she felt like the world had melted and no one but him and her existed and then she heard a soft "Shit!" in a girl's voice from beside the boy. With more effort than she would have thought required, she pulled her eyes away from the boy and looked at the girl beside him and then the rest of the pack; but her eyes kept seeking the boy and every time she looked at him, she found him looking back at her, a slow smile creeping up on his face. The warmth of that smile knocked her breath away and she could do nothing more than smile back, making him grin wider.

"If you're quite done there Ginny, may be you could let the elves set the food on the table," Hermione's amused voice brought Ginny out of her internal musings and seeing the look she was getting from Harry, Hermione and Draco, she flushed brightly and moved to side to let the elf set the big dish of potato salad on the table.

"What are these things?" Seth asked, finally able to see something past Ginny.

"You mean the little creatures that have been popping in and out for last five minutes?" Draco snickered. "They are my house elves," he shrugged and turned to check the placement of the spread around them. Seeing it all done perfectly, he nodded at the elf that was bowing just beyond his chair but thanked her for the services when Hermione cleared her throat from beside him.

With a short, "Pinky and her friendses is happy to serve the master," the elves all popped out.

"Please begin," Draco smiled at their guests and the dinner began.

The next episode came from Ginny. While she was happily chatting with the only girl sitting on the wolf's side of the table and throwing fugitive glances at the drop-dead gorgeous boy beside her, she was also fighting off that stupid vampire's ever-present badgering in her head. Though she was good enough at Occlumency, she was nowhere around Draco who was best at the mind magic amongst them, his mind shields impenetrable even by Snape and Voldemort, what with sharing residency with a psychopath, she figured he had to be. He was followed closely of course by Hermione and Harry and lastly Ron. But even then, there was a long league between her and them and Edward's constant bang on her shields had tired her out within the first few minutes. So she had resorted to playing bits and pieces of her life where she had been possessed by Tom Riddle first and then punished by the Carrows next, all the while talking to Leah Clearwater, the only girl to have ever phased as a wolf, she was informed, and stealing glances at the most fascinating set of eyes she had ever seen, on the boy beside her.

But twenty minutes later, Ginny knew she wasn't going to be able to play this game anymore so she flipped. Suddenly she turned a menacing glare at Edward and snapped, "Your upbringing leaves much to be desired, doesn't it? Is it not enough that I have to constantly think about all the trauma I've ever suffered in my life, that you keep coming back for more? You bloody sadist! Get the fuck out of my head right now or I will throw the memories of my first period at you, along with every memory of every pain and anguish I have ever. I'm done with tolerating your rude presence in my mind."

"Don't come back to my head ever again, or you will find out what it means to mess with a Weasley!" Ginny warned him with a fire in her eyes.

"Look mate, if you've got to look inside heads, why not try the pretty one beside you? I'm sure she won't object," Ron offered.

Draco snorted. "That's because he can't. He had thought she'd be the only one but then we turned up and he can't read ours too."

"How do you know all that?" Edward glared.

Draco gave him a slow smirk, "Not so much fun when it happens to you, is it? I had warned you, remember?" Leah absolutely felt like getting up and smooching the hell out of her imprint for that one! Albeit with much difficulty she refrained.

"Do you think…" Hermione shook her head and then chose her words again. "Do you really love her Edward?" she asked then softly.

"We are all here discussing things for _her_ safety and yet you aren't able to hold back from satisfying your curiosity despite being warned against it right at the beginning." Hermione frowned, as if deep in thought then looked at Edward again. "Is it just that she's an enigma? Does that draw you to her?"

"Are you questioning my love for Bella?" growled Edward, raising hackles off the pack.

Jacob immediately bounced on his feet and growled his warning loudly at the copper haired vampire. "Don't you dare take that tone with her, you leech!"

Ignoring Edward and her shock at Jacob's actions, Hermione continued as if neither had really spoken. "Honestly, think about it. She's your singer, her blood literally calls to you. And then there's the whole mind shield which I'm guessing for someone as arrogant as you must be too much to deal with. It might be a good idea for you to really think this through before you change her, she won't have any blood left in her to call to you. What will you do then? For all of eternity, might I add."

And Edward had heard enough. He lunged at Hermione. Witch or not, help in the coming war or not, he would not stand for anyone questioning his love for Bella. Especially after the way Bella was constantly looking at Jacob because he had his eyes glued to the pretty brunette witch since the time they had gotten in. Jacob had barely spared Bella a look and Edward could see how much that affected Bella right on her face. And then the witch had gone on to question his feelings for Bella, he snapped and he lunged, without a forethought whatsoever.

Hermione just waved her hand as if shooing off an insistent fly and Edward was arrested mid-air, just as the wolves stood to phase to save Hermione, but seeing Edward frozen mid-air, they confusedly looked at the wizards.

Draco levitated the frozen vampire back to his seat and huffed. "Don't you ever learn?" he asked in annoyance.

"I am a war veteran. I've taken down twelve blood-thirsty vampires within thirty minutes. Not to mention my friends would rip you off even if I was ill-prepared. And what about the Voltari's laws of not changing magicals? Start thinking before acting Edward, it might help you in the upcoming war," Hermione chastised.

Seeing Edward's shocked form Bella screamed. "You bitch! What did you do to him?"

"Don't you dare," Ginny pointed her wand right in Bella's face.

"He's only frozen. Well, just a tad more than usual, that is," Ron 'helpfully' answered Bella. "Should be good to go in a few minutes."

"Oh Edward!" Bella tried in vain to rub vigorously at Edward's hard, cold body. "Don't leave me Edward, not again. What will I do without you? My life is such a waste without you in it…"

The wizarding folk gawked in amusement while Ginny incredulously looked at the scene and asked, "Is she serious?"

Before anyone could answer though, Bella barked out loud, "Of course I am! I love him. Edward is my life. I was severely depressed the last time he left me for my own good. I almost killed myself at the pain of it all, but I don't expect bitches like you to understand that."

Both Jacob and Seth growled at Bella, making her take an involuntary step back while Ginny laughed sinisterly. "No, you're right. I don't understand anything about depression due to rejection because when the love of my life left me for my good, I restored a rebel group in my school to fight against a psychotic wizard. And while I almost got killed it the process, it was due to a war and _not_ my suicidal tendencies."

"And when Mione's love left her, she stood by her best friend's side and helped him to keep the mission going, without so much as a faltering of a step from her side. So spare us the crap about how your life revolves around your vampire."

"Who, by the way, are blessed with exceptional beauty only to lure their prey in," Hermione added after Ginny. "I really think you two need to go over your relationship before you both take any step towards making a future together."

Edward's freezing hex wore out just then and with a feral snarl he stood up again, with Hermione eyeing him warily.

"I think it's time for us to leave," Carlisle stood up, finally having had enough tension in the room. He wasn't keen to see the consequences of Edward's lunge at the witch in front of the wolves. _What was that boy thinking really?_ Carlisle thought, knowing he'd have had a coronary right then if he wasn't an immortal.

Ginny quickly closed the blood pop boxes and had them packed in the bag she had carried in and levitated the bag towards the large vampire. She wasn't sure why, but he reminded her of her twin brothers and Charlie. "I hope you enjoy these," she smiled at him as he gave her a smile and thanked her. The blonde beauty beside him gave her a quick wink and recovering swiftly, Ginny smiled at her too.

"Our offer still stands though. We won't punish all for the fault of a few. Think and do let us know within the next three days," Draco said as he shook Carlisle's hand. The vampires, followed by Bella filed out of the tent.

Draco turned from his place at the tent's opening flap and sighed exasperatedly. "I never thought I'd see the day where scar-head and the weasel would be the better behaved ones. What's wrong with you girls?"

Ginny and Hermione immediately launched into a long rant making everyone chuckle behind them. Draco shook his head tiredly and mumbled something very close to, "Why do I even bother with these Gryffindorks," as he walked back to his seat.

"Now that we can talk without the mind reader's annoying presence," Ginny started and sat beside Draco again, "Can someone explain what the fuck is happening here?"

Sighing, Harry gave her watered down version of everything and Ginny shook her head at the end. "Damn it! We're gonna have to see the two tosspots again, don't we?"

"I'll be staying to fight," Hermione said and spooned some rice and chicken in her mouth, chewing the food slowly.

"Oh, I know that," Ginny rolled her eyes. "What are we doing with them?" Ginny asked waving at shape-shifters. "Are we training with their pack or just by ourselves? Cause if we are training with them, the Order will have to be notified, especially if you want to ask for more help."

"Do you think a meeting with the Volturi might help?" Hermione asked.

"No," Draco shook his head. "If it did, the Cullens would have been in Italy right now."

"Plus, do you really want to owe a favor to Caius?" Harry wiggled his eyebrows at Hermione making her groan. _Fucking vampires! They were just plain irritating for a variety of reasons!_

"I think we are missing a few pieces here. What's the Volturi?" Sam asked.

"Coven of old vampires that oversee all the vampires in the world," Ginny explained, looking at Sam.

" _All_ the vampires?" Seth cut in, to bring her attention back to himself.

"Yes, _all_ the vampires," Ginny agreed, both again lost in each other's eyes.

Ron groaned. "No. No. None of that will do. I forbid you to look at my sister like that," Ron grumbled his warning at Seth. Ginny turned her full attention at Ron and made a move for her wand, just as laughter broke out.

"And that's just the youngest one Seth," Hermione laughed. "Her eldest brother is lycanthropic, next works with dragons for a living, whose body may put Emmett's to shame, might I add. Percy is harmless enough if he wants to be, but the twins come next and trust me when I say this, they more than make up for Percy's lack. They run a wizarding joke shop and are known as the most notorious duo to ever have lived in Europe. So, you might want to tread the waters carefully. Though you have my support if it blossoms into something serious, but remember you hurt her and Harry and I and I'm pretty sure even Malfoy will join us to kick your ass."

"Is it before or after I'm done?" Ginny giggled at Seth and despite all the fear Hermione's words had set in his heart, Seth knew he would face it all, if Ginny would continue to smile that way at him all his life. She was after all his imprint and he would now only live to make her happy.

Drawn back to each other's eyes, they lost themselves again before Leah finally smacked her brother on his head and the meeting proceeded.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 08:**

The days leading up to the Cullens' final response were _tense_ for the want of a better word.

Draco was in a right foul mood, barely containing his anger in front of the pack, but the minute the shape-shifters had left, he had bit the witches' heads off for their reckless behavior and that had only been the tip of the iceberg!

Next day morning, he had received a letter delivered by a very old and aristocratic looking owl, addressed to him from the ministry's Marital Contracts Department. He read it once, twice, thrice and then launched into a flurry of expletives so chosen, even Ginny hadn't heard half of them!

"What has gotten into you?" Hermione asked, her emotions fluctuating between sleepy lethargy and concerned curiosity.

"My marriage contract has been voided!" Draco stunned his tent-mates into silence with that one line but continued with his tirade, as if speaking to himself. "It's.. it's just not possible. I've tried so much to get away from it. It doesn't work this way… it was a bound by blood, made three generations before I was even born.. and still it's the ministry's seal and this is the original contract. It's broken.. _How_?"

He looked up from the letter at the four pairs of unblinking eyes and sighed.

"One of my forefathers wanted to join the Greengrass lineage to ours so he made Blood Contract with his good old Greengrass friend. They laid down the condition that the first generation in which children of the opposite sex were born into the two households, the Malfoy and the Greengrass lineage would join together. Mine is the first generation after the contract that daughters were born in the Greengrass household, so that was it. I was betrothed. My only choice was between the two sisters. I've never really gelled well with Daphne, so I chose Astoria. I was all of ten back then, and she, eight when I was told of it. We were supposed to be married shortly after she graduates, but.. this says the contract's nulled because _I_ am not eligible for it anymore."

"The only way a marital contract can be breeched is by death," Ginny said creasing her brows. " _You_ are very much alive, so how are you not eligible again?"

"Sirius once told me that Remus was betrothed too. Though his contract was voided the minute he was bitten by a werewolf," Harry shrugged.

"I am not dead. And I certainly am not a half-breed.. I mean.." Draco blushed at the top of his high cheeks.

"It's okay, you're upset. We won't take offence," Ron showed some maturity, surprising the others as he shrugged Draco's rude words off.

"But then how..?" Ginny questioned.

"It's not just that. There are many other reasons to it too. If a Veela or other such magical creature chooses one of the contracted individuals as his or her mate, the contracts are voided too. Because these contracts are blood bound, they'll only transfer unto the next generation that meets all the criteria," Hermione cleared.

"So, now, Malfoy's unborn kid, who might be a Veela… is bound? What about his.. or her mate then?" Harry asked quirking his brow.

"No. The contract specified the first generation of opposite gendered children, so it won't transfer onto the next generation, right?" Ginny asked, looking between Draco and Hermione for their confirmation of her understanding of the intricacies of the words of the contract.

"Yes," Hermione nodded, "Also, if his child would be a Veela, once he or she came into his heritage he would be governed by those laws and not those of the contract's," Hermione cleared. "The laws for the preservation and mating of magical creatures are very specific and extremely favorable to them."

"Yeah, there's a reason why Bill married Fleur. Don't get me wrong, they are both crazy about each other and both practically worship the ground the other walks on, but even if he wanted, Bill wouldn't have been able to get away from Fleur because both the ministries – ours and French, would have made them get together. It's just better this way, though, they're both happy and all that," Ron shrugged.

"But what I don't understand is _how_ this happened?" Draco was staring at a point in the tent, his look faraway, contemplating the issue at hand. "As far as I can remember, I haven't seen a Veela for a very long time. In fact, I've only ever seen a few Veelas who fought for the Dark Lord and all of them were mated, so it couldn't be them. Veelas don't die with their mates, they do not choose another."

"Does it have to be a Veela, though?" Harry asked, his own brow creasing in thought. "We've met a multitude of magical creatures over the past several weeks, could it not be one of them?"

Draco and Hermione turned as one in Harry's direction, Ginny not far behind.

"Oh my God!"

"That is possible!"

"Fucking Founders Almighty! I'll bloody kill the bitch who thought she could take such a liberty with a Malfoy."

"Imagine if it's a dude," Ron winked, breaking the tension.

Draco paled. He wasn't a homophobic but he definitely enjoyed the company of women, _only women_ , the bustier the better! "I have got to go and sort this mess out."

"We have three days down time anyway, go ahead, sort your mess out. We'll man the fort here," Harry offered.

"And while you're there, please go to the Order's HO and get us some back up for the fight," Ginny added. "What?" she turned to look at the others, "They don't know _everything_ about the mess you all have managed to get yourself into. I was supposed to go back with information, but seeing as he is going there anyway, he might as well drop in for a meeting."

"No, I think you should do your assigned work, Ginny," Ron folded his arms in front of his chest.

Hermione very un-lady like snorted. "You really think you can order her around? Much less make her leave?"

Draco rolled his eyes and sighed. "Before it all goes out of hands, I'm off. I'll see you all in a few days." With a quick flick of his wand, he twisted in the air and was gone with a soft pop.

"Even his apparation has class," Ginny whistled appreciatively. "Now, boys and girl, we've been invited for a fun evening of fuss-bowl, so let's quickly grab our lunch and get ready. I've been told the waters here are perfect for a swim."

"Somebody's in for a long evening of teasing," Hermione smirked knowingly at Ginny and she cackled with glee after throwing her a saucy little wink.

"And it's football Ginny," Harry corrected, laughing at the two witches. They were so different from one another and yet there couldn't have been two better suited girlfriends!

Ron simply paled at the implications of Hermione's teasing of his sister. _Now if only she would listen to him, he wouldn't have to murder muggles!_

 **AN: Sorry about the long delay but I hope I made up for the wait.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 09:**

As it turned out, Ron didn't have to murder any muggles!

The minute Seth saw Ginny emerging out of the sea, looking like a goddess in a copper two piece bikini, he stood rooted to the spot, drooling and swallowing his tongue all at the same time. Then, his superior hearing caught the snippets about the sexy red head walking towards the beach. _His_ sexy red head who was walking towards the beach!

He flipped and turned, growling in possessive anger at all the teens nearby, his glare so murderous that they actually flinched and scurried off in the direction opposite to the one they were headed towards.

His packmates all stared surprised at his behavior, he was usually the calmest one of the lot! He even befriended the Cullen kids! And yet here he was, growling at gangly teens for looking at his imprint in a bathing suit. How imprints changed their wolves!

Hermione, who was again quite happily out of the waters, smiled a smile that split her face in half. "Possessive much, Sethy boy?" she looked at him in amusement, especially when he blushed furiously despite his tanned skin when he saw her looking at him.

Hermione continued to look at the young boy in amusement, trying and failing miserably to keep her teasing grin away. Just as her friends neared the group, Leah broke the moment.

"Uhm.. where's the third guy? Draco?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"He's gone back to England for a few days," Harry shrugged under the towel that was covering his head, wiping his messy hair dry.

"Why?" Leah asked in shock.

"His marriage contract broke off," Ron shrugged and Hermione scowled at him. Trust Ron to just come out with it!

"His what!" Leah asked, eyes ready to pop out of her head. "He's married?"

"No.." Ginny shook her head, a small frown marring her perfect face. "He was betrothed, but something happened and his contract was broken. He had to leave to look into the matter."

Leah stood shocked until Seth put a hand on the small of her back to get her discreetly back to reality.

"Did he say why it was broken?" Seth asked compassionately. "Did he love her?" Leah asked softly. Both the Clearwater siblings speaking at the same time.

"No, that's what he has gone to find out. He only received the nulled contract from the ministry," Ginny answered Seth, looking sharply at the siblings.

"No, he didn't, well, as far I know at least," Hermione replied to Leah, trying to figure out her thoughts.

"He'd be stupid not to," Ron shrugged, "Astoria Greengrass is stunning! She has it all, looks, humor, compassion, good nature and she just has this… happy disposition.. that no one can stay gloomy around her. I'd say that's a witch one can take home to see his mother. In fact, now that she's single.." he trailed off looking at Harry. "Think she'd give me a date?"

Harry looked at the tensed pack on one side and his best mate on the other and sighed. _Talk about thick headedness!_ "You.. yeah, sure. Why not? She's a beautiful blonde, one of the few purebloods who actually cares about general well-being, fought with us in the war, lightens up a place by simply being in it.. and you well.. you are a war veteran. A little gangly, I'll grant you that, but hey, if she can cook, she can cure that particular problem soon enough," he chuckled and Ron nodded in agreement. Hermione rolled her eyes.

When she brought her eyes back to the pack, Leah wasn't there. Looking around, she saw her walking towards the large stones at the edge of the beach. Ron lightly tapped her on her shoulder to bring her attention back. "You playing, Mione?"

"No, not today. I.. I think I'm gonna sit back today," she smiled at her friends first and then at the pack and quietly followed Leah's footprints in the soft sand.

Jacob saw her making her way towards Leah and smiled a small smile before Jarod snapped his fingers in front of his face to bring him back from his inner musings as they decided on the teams for the match.

Hermione cursed her luck as she saw Leah quickly climbing the large rocks that made up one side of the beach, cutting it off from the other coast. If only they weren't around muggles, she could have apparated. But now, she'd have to climb this whole thing and looking at Leah again, she sighed, Leah did not want to settle for a lower rock either!

Thanking the fitness training the Order insisted on it's operatives to take, she started climbing the rocks, making it beside Leah not five minutes after she had settled herself down.

"Do you mind if I sit here with you?"

"If I say I mind, will you go away?"

Hermione pouted, then shook her head. "No, can't say I will."

"Then knock yourself out."

Hermione chuckled. "That's a funny phrase."

"With all due respect, _little miss sunshine_ , why the fuck are you here?"

"I thought you could do with a friend and seeing as we kind of sail in the boat about the _lovely_ _company_ we keep, I figured you could do with a girlfriend right about now."

"You thought wrong, so go away!"

"Okay." Hermione looked out at the sea. "But since I've taken the effort to climb up this abomination the muggle way I think I'm gonna sit down and enjoy the view for a bit," she said and plopped herself beside Leah, though far enough to not crowd her in anyway.

Hermione took the chance to look at the sun as it made its way to the water's edge, coloring the sky all shade of fire in its wake. If we only took time away from our lives, our problems to look at everything the higher powers have bestowed on us, we'd start seeing things the right way, placing importance on everything that really matters instead of all that we deem important.

Like her. She had promised herself she would go to Australia to find her parents right after the war, and yet her she was, a world away from home, from them, still caught up in the war's aftermath, being back with her parents a distant thought, fighting to make the world safer for them.

But was that what they would want? Or would they rather hold their daughter close in the troubling times, instead of not knowing of her existence at all.

She breathed out a long slow breath. _That's why I don't sit alone!_ _Makes me think too much, and none of it good!_

"What wrong, witch?" came a soft voice from beside her.

"Nothing Leah. Just thinking of what could be, should have been and what is."

Leah snorted. "Sunsets have that effect on us, don't they? The power to make us all wistful and seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, still pinching us hard where it hurts about another day wasted.."

Hermione sharply turned to Leah, her big brown eyes clashing Leah's sad green ones.

"It's you, isn't it?" she enquired softly, knowing Leah wouldn't need a context to understand her.

Leah sighed and gave a miniscule nod of her head. "It wasn't on purpose and I didn't want to upset his life. It just… happened," she finished lamely.

Hermione kept quiet, her silence urging the other girl on. "It's that way for us. One look. That's all it fucking takes. The first time our eyes meet with our imprints… we're goners. Nothing else, no one else matters, not friends, not family, not past or current lovers, nothing. Just our imprints."

Hermione's eyes moved frantically between Leah's searching for an answer about another friend of hers who seemed to have be 'imprinted?' on. Was that what was happening between Seth and Ginny, Hermione wondered but didn't ask, knowing it wasn't her question to ask neither was it Leah's place to answer.

"It's a fucking curse," Leah groaned, kicking the rock beneath her feet without wincing, as if she wanted to feel the bite of the pain. "This shape shifting.. werewolf.. whatever this thing is.. it's a curse. We can't have a normal life, can't love as per our own will, if we do it snatches it away. And finally when I thought I was ready to leave him behind, to move on, I imprinted. Now, I've broken his marriage to a woman.. no, a witch.. one of _his kind_ and an amazing one at that! What am I going to do? He is going to reject me.." Leah buried her face in her hands, hot tears she had held back since Sam's breaking up with her, fell like a river held too long within a dam.

"He hates me. My imprint hates me. I am literally living for him and he hates me…"

The mother hen that was always just beneath the surface with Hermione came up immediately. "No, no, he doesn't," she cooed soothingly and moved closer to Leah, wrapping her shuddering form in her arms, patting her back. "He doesn't hate you, Leah, he can't, no one can, even if they tried, you're such a wonderful girl, beautiful and brave, it's such a hard combination to come by. In fact, the ferret's just plain lucky you chose him of all the people!"

"Leah, he doesn't know you yet, but once he's back you must speak to him… then he'll see…"

"He'll see what? A poor native girl of Amazonian proportions who can shift into a wolf at will and who turns back into her human form nude, giving everyone in the area a good eyeful of what other girls are always hiding? I don't have a fancy degree, no prospects to speak of. All I am really good is working as a guard dog! Now, unless he needs that…"

"You'd best stop right there, Leah," Hermione spoke sternly. "I will not have a fellow girl speaking so lowly of herself. You are magical, you're a guardian of your tribe, designed to take down vampires that wrought hell on their unsuspecting prey. You are one of kind, the only woman blessed to come into this heritage."

Leah snorted, "You're just sugarcoating hell, again."

"No, no, I'm not. I won't lie to you about understanding how most muggles view this as, since I have been quite away from my true roots for too long to get a good grip about it, but with us magicals, you'll always find expectance. You, just like us, have a magical core in you. Our magical core is what sustains us, it's our life force, so we understand magical creatures like yourself better. We have laws pertaining to our interactions with them."

"If Draco was just a normal muggle, you might have had a problem, but since he is a wizard, and a pretty strong one at that, _don't you dare tell him I said that_ ," Hermione warned Leah complete with a stern eye, "his magic will respond to yours. We, in the wizarding world, have soulmates too and therefore you'll never see separations or divorces with us. Our magic tells us when it's the right one. And even if we choose to ignore it's initial calls, it'll work out ways to have us smitten by that _one_."

"My guess is that, had you been given enough time, you would have spoken to him about your _imprinting_ soon enough and in the interim his attention would have been focused on you, just like it's been for the past few days," Hermione gave Leah a small teasing smile.

"I wasn't hallucinating then?" Leah asked shyly.

"Nope," Hermione popped her p. "Look, Leah, I'm not saying everything will work out just dandy. Merlin knows, it's Malfoy! The great bouncy white ferret is bound to say and do many stupid things before you'll need to punch him on the face, breaking his nose, to help him see straight; but at the end, he'll come around. Boys always do.. Trust me, I've been with enough of them to know!"

Leah sniffled but finally offered Hermione a small smile. "You guys keep calling him a ferret. Is there a story behind it?"

Hermione laughed and told her the story of her imprint came into that name and a few more, of things they had done to each other while in school. Leah sat shocked threw them all, especially after Hermione confessed to having punched Draco because he was being a 'right git' (Hermione's words, not hers) and she started seeing the tiny girl in a new light.

 _May be she isn't half bad.. May be none of them are.._ Leah thought later that night as she was doing her perimeter runs. She was sharing her shift with Jacob, the only guy she didn't mind having in her mind, apart from the times when he was obsessing about Bella or complaining about his imprint.

 _Hmm.. may be I'll have her back from now on, won't let him speak crap about her._

"Wow! She's really done a number on you, hasn't she?" she could almost see Jake smirking in the darkness as he trotted ahead of her. "If you hadn't already imprinted, I'd be honor bound to thrash you for thinking so damn much about _my_ _imprint_."

"Like you care.."

"Hey!" Jake suddenly sounded serious, "I do care, just.. just not that way, okay. I would still jump in front of her to protect her from every harm, big or small. It's just that, I don't know her enough to have such strong feelings for her, so it all feels too weird. What I feel for her, it all feels forced.. natural.. but forced. I thought I was in love and right after seeing her I didn't care about the girl I was ruining my life for, and I don't like that bit. I've always wanted to marry for love, like my parents," he admitted sheepishly to Leah, "this imprinting thing never factored in my life's plan, and I don't like that lack of control, that's all. It's nothing against _her_ , you know.."

"Good!" Leah growled in her mind. "I think we're getting to be friends and I won't have anyone speaking ill of the one girl who, like me, can dish it as is; or at least with as little sugar coating as possible."

Jake stopped in his track and turned his big wolf head around, giving Leah a curious look. "What's gotten into you? What did you two speak about?"

Leah shrugged him off at first but then played her entire conversation with Hermione in her mind, something in her telling her to do it so Jake could see his imprint in a different light.

Jake stood in all his large russet glory as he heard his imprint speaking in Leah's mind and then his heart stopped beating. _Wait! What the…!_ "What the fuck did she mean she mean by she's been with enough boys to know…?"

Leah cackled at the comical expression on the large russet wolf's face, "Why do you care? Everything for her from your is forced, isn't it? She smirked and ran off, continuing their patrol.

"Leah!" Jake cried her name and gave chase, his bulky form barely managing to keep up with Leah's lithe one. "Leah.. tell me.."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN:** Hi guys! I just thought I'd warn you - This story is going to have a slower pace compared to my other stories as there are too many couples in it and I'm really trying to do justice to them all. Hoping you understand! Thanks a ton!

Do R&R! Cheers!

 **Chapter 10:**

Draco sat alone in his childhood home, close to a large window in the music room, on his side of the manor, his fingers idly plucking at the guitar he had gotten signed by the Weird Sisters back at the Yule Ball in his fourth year. His parents were out for the evening, _thankfully_ , he sighed. He did not need any more of his mother's nagging to 'get that girl to see them soon.'

 _Honestly,_ what had his life come to? Nothing ever went as he planned. He never wanted to be enemies with the Golden Trio but one rebuttal from the famous Harry Potter at the steps of Hogwarts, even before they'd technically entered the school building, had been enough to set the tone of his relationship with the boy wonder and everything after that had quickly gone down south.

For a very little bit there, he'd even fancied Granger, the muggle-born was the only one smart enough to beat him academically and with the chosen company she kept, poking fun at the lot, having her eyes sparkling at him while he got the mickey out of Pothead and Weasel had been a big plus. Then, of course, she'd hit him in the face and he'd been done with the lot!

 _If only life was as simple as a few crushes and nemeses…_ he thought wistfully.

But no, it wasn't.. especially for those unfortunate enough to be born in the era of the scar-head!

The year after Granger's punch had been the best one of his life. There were beautiful girls, Veelas even, in school, and with his name and looks, he had enjoyed the one year of quiet granted to him before the storm had struck, the whirlwind taking any semblance of sanity of his life, away.

The Dark Lord had raised from the dead and he was not happy with his father, first for losing some dairy, it seemed and then for breaking a coveted prophecy and Draco had been punished for his father's sins. He had been forced to take the dark side and when he had proved his strength and might with his wit and wand, he had been branded. For life. His first task: to kill the one wizard that even the Deranged Half-Blooded Bastard could not lay a finger on.

His mission was bound to be left incomplete, for more reasons than one.. the top-most one being that despite everything, Draco did not want to kill the crazy bat! As painfully stupid as his old headmaster had been, Draco did harbor respect for him, for his might with a wand, not he thought to bring the darkest wizard of all ages down by shielding himself with a clueless orphan. Despite all outward appearances, Draco knew the old wizard had been a shrewd and intelligent one, and the Malfoys, if not all the Slytherins, always respected cunning. It was pitiful how Potter never saw through the ruse, but being the Gryffindor that he was, Draco had long back quit being surprised with his uncanny ability to trust just about anyone! The dickhead was just lucky to have better friends than the ones Draco had been blessed with.

 _Friends_... Draco thought of the word with longing.. he never really had any.. Crabbe and Goyle were his squires at best. There was a time when he'd thought Blaise and Theo were his friends but the war had changed that. The Zabinis had chosen to stay neutral and escaped to Italy, while his father's fall from grace with the Dark Lord had lost them their friendship with the Notts.

When his father had been punished by his Lord, his Mother had completely shifted her focus from her son to her husband, for the first time giving Draco the true taste of loneliness. And when she'd come back to him, she'd brought her crazy sister along into their relationship, and Draco had learned that loneliness was better than a certain type of company, at the very least.

Through it all though, only one had always been by his side…

 _Astoria_ …

She'd borne witness to all his shenanigans in school, never even raising a brow, yet he had always run interference in her life and she had let him. Initially, he'd written her off as weak, but when calamity had truly struck, she'd shown him her mettle.

She had been the only one who'd heard him out without cutting or judging, giving her advice even if he scoffed. And she had always smiled when she saw him. During that bleak year of his life, when he'd been given the task of killing Dumbledore, she had been the only one who'd been patient with him.

He hadn't told her what he was doing of course, for her safety and his, and yet she had made it a point to sit with him every evening during dinnertimes. It wasn't much, they rarely ever spoke, but she'd seen his strain and offered the only comfort she could – her silent company. He had never admitted it to her, but he did appreciate it, she was his constant in a world that was spinning too fast on its axis.

He'd been an ass, like the one he was known to be, and she had never complained nor leaked a word about their relationship, her feelings or anything else really, to anyone. The only time she even looked at him with hurt and betrayal had been the day after he'd made the mistake of taking Daphne, her elder sister, to bed! He winced even now, thinking of the broken look in Astoria's eyes. They'd had a party in the common room back in his fifth year and with all the booze freely flowing, he had lost his grip on himself, only to wake up the next day in the girl's dormitory on the wrong sister's bed.

Astoria hadn't said a word, she didn't need to, her eyes had spoken enough. When Daphne had tried cuddling him the next day, in front of her younger affianced sister, Draco had taken one look at Astoria and set Daphne straight, in front of everyone in the common room, no less. Both the sisters had upped and left after that little scene. And Draco hadn't been with any girl since… The remainder of that year he hadn't felt like it and the next year onwards he'd been too worn to think of sex at all!

A few months before the Final Battle, he'd received a Patronus, a hawk, and much to his astonishment the hawk had spoken to him in Astoria's voice.

 _"_ _I'll be fighting for the Light. I hope you yield your wand for the correct side too."_

That was all the hawk had said and then disappeared. He'd taken her words to heart and when the trio had been brought to the Manor, he had refused to identify them with surety, he knew of course who those three were but he'd played his 'unsure' card and gambled, not even putting up a fight when Potter had disarmed him, as if a Malfoy could be challenged in their own Manor! The house wards were too strong to let that happen, but the wards had sensed Draco's hesitance and let the prisoners escape. His parents had felt the wards waver and understood his plan, holding themselves back too. Even they wanted the Darkness that had taken residence in their ancestral house to end.

Ever since then, he'd sent her his own Patronus, a ferret – ( _much to his embarrassment!)_ with any information, he could get. Not that he was privy to a lot, but it all happened in his manor, so gaining intel wasn't too big a task, and he sent it her way, asking her to not revert, ever, but just to be careful.

 _Did he love her, then?_ He thought to himself, bringing his thoughts consciously back to Astoria. In a way, yes, he did. It was difficult not to, she was beautiful, smart, funny… but he'd never fancied himself in love with her and he was sure she felt the same.

There was something between them, a spark of sorts.. an understanding.. whatever you may call it, but neither had ever tried to explore it, much like Granger and the Weasel, Draco thought with a distasteful snort. In the Golden couple's case, everyone wanted them to get together but they didn't want to risk their friendship to try that, at least that was what he had understood from studying the two for the past few weeks; whereas with Astoria and himself, they knew they'd end up together, so they hadn't tried anything in fear of learning too much too soon and not liking any bit of it.

And now they never had to try it at all.

They weren't betrothed anymore and were finally free to choose for themselves, well, Astoria was. He on the other hand…..

 _Hmm_.. he snorted, at least he got himself a friend out of it all. Astoria was a wonderful person, and he'd always thought life with him would sour her out, but not anymore, he'd happily stay on the sidelines of her life, and further their friendship in the true sense, he was sure she would respond, she was just that sort of a person. He smiled fondly.

As for the other part of his problem, well, like most other things in his life, there wasn't much he could do about it, now, could he? The dice had been cast, at least this time he seemed to be in a place of gain. Astoria would undoubtedly stay his friend and that Leah girl, the ministry had promised him, was his soulmate, so not much to worry about there, too, right? _Right_ … Right!

For once it might even work out…

Mind made up, he whipped his wand and sent a hasty Patronus to Astoria and summoned Chinky, yet another one of his elves, instructing her to bring out dinner for him and a guest.

Maybe it was time for a few changes... and what better way to start than with an evening with a cherished friend?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Draco popped at the edge of the woods, way beyond the wards and took his time covering the short distance, emptying his thoughts and adopting his blank façade, where anyone looking his way thought nothing could affect him.

His peace was short-lived though, for the minute he stepped inside tent, he was bombarded with questions galore.

"So who is the girl?"

"Is it one of the African cats we met? Godric were they hot!" "How did Astoria take it?"

"Think she'll give me a date?"

Draco smiled internally at his new friends, they were nosy but they were friends he finally acknowledged, but pulled an irritated sneer on his face and replied, "I'm not telling you that yet," he replied looking at Ginny and then moved ahead to look at every person as he answered their questions. "How I wish!" He said to Harry and then to Hermione, "Astoria took it surprisingly well." Last, he turned to Ron, "And not on your life Weasley! Even if there was a remote chance that I'd introduce you to my ex, which there isn't, you don't stand a chance with her, especially because the minute our betrothal was broken, our dear Oliver Wood swooped down and plucked the pretty flower away. The guy is so smitten with her that not only did he come for her not half hour after she'd set foot at the Manor but he's apparently following her around like a love sick puppy much to Tory's amusement!"

Hermione smirked, "Good for Wood. He needed someone in his life to take his focus away from his Quidditch obsession."

Ginny whistled. "Good for Wood? Mione, have you seen Wood?! Any girl that Adonis takes a shine to is the lucky one."

"Well, that's true. The guy is gorgeous!" Hermione conceded with a teasing smile.

"Okay, that's it with all the Wood loving. I've heard enough a lyrical waxed about him to last me a lifetime! Now, unless the guy is spoken about with reference to Quidditch, I'd rather not speak about him at all."

"Seconded! I'm the saviour of the world and yet he is the one beating me to the top post of Wizarding Britain's hottest Wizard," then at Hermione's evil eye Harry quickly added, "Not that I care about such stupid titles, but it'd be nice to know women want me for something beside my stupid scar."

Hermione and Ginny both snorted in unison.

"So, what's been happening here?" Draco asked, looking around expectantly for updates. "Silence at the Cullen end," Ron sighed.

"Crazy at the wolf side," Ginny sharply winked.

"Speaking of crazy at the wolf end," Harry started, taking care to avoid the general vicinity of where Hermione was standing, "Embry is taking Ron and me out for cliff jumping, you want to come along?"

Hermione's mouth fell open but before she could speak, she heard Ginny say, "Oh, that sounds fun. I was supposed to go out with Seth, but we could tag along with you guys. I'd at least like to see you do crazy, even if I don't participate." Then she heard Draco, "Sure, why not. Seeing you two make a fool of yourselves might take my mind off stuff for a bit."

"Have you all gone mad?" Hermione asked askance.

A sentiment she repeated like a mantra when she got her first look at the cliff from the road as they all drove to it, packed as they were in a truck Embry had borrowed from Sam, until the time Harry and Ron stripped down to their boxers in order to ready themselves for the plunge.

"You can't be serious!" Hermione looked warningly at her two best friends who were increasingly mimicking adrenaline junkies the longer they stayed at Forks. "No! I refuse to allow this!" She pressed, despite knowing her words were all falling on deaf ears.

"Come on Mione, lighten up. It's just a bit of harmless fun," Harry squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"Harmless fun..." Hermione parroted with incredulity written all over her face.

"After everything we've done, Mione, this doesn't even crack up to the first twenty on the list of crazies," was Ron's wise crack at her.

"There you go the," Embry encouraged, "don't give too long for the nerves to set in."

"No!" Hermione tried again, then turned to Draco for help only to see him standing by the cliff's edge in his boxers as well.

"You can't be serious!" She whispered more to herself than to anyone else. "Malfoy! You too?" She asked him disbelievingly.

Draco shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "I don't see why l should miss out on the fun, Granger."

Taking advantage of her current distraction, Harry took the leap followed closely by Ron and seeing them, down went Draco like a cannon ball. Embry hauled and clapped, moving towards the edge of the cliff to see the three wizards falling down. Ginny clutched on tightly at Seth's collar while he tried to hide his smile.

Hermione stood frozen by the edge for all of five seconds before her brain unfroze and went into over-drive. "Tell them I will haunt them for the rest of their days if I die trying to save their sorry asses," she threw at the group around her, took a few steps back, turned and then ran towards the cliff's edge and leaped through the air.

"Hermione! No!" Ginny screamed. But before she could coax Seth into action she saw Hermione waving her wand around and the four of them flew to the water's edge and even from the distance Ginny could see Hermione's hair sparking. "They're so dead. Let's get there quickly," she urged the two boys with her and the trio made their way to the spot where Hermione had the three boys pinned under her acidic glare while they coughed and spluttered around on the beach.

"You freaking dunderheads! Who does that? Why would you even..."

Her long chastising speech was cut suddenly short when she felt a sharp pull on her wrist, the grip was tight enough to make her wince and she just knew she'd be sporting bruises all colors of the rainbow by the evening.

The sharp tug had her wincing and turning mid-speech and suddenly she found herself nestled tightly between strong arms and warm chest and her mind suddenly filled with images of thick tomes, old parchments and sunny patches on flower-filled wildernesses.

"You okay? You had me worried," Jake pulled away from Hermione and looked at her thoroughly scrutinizing her for injuries. But when he saw none and was positive she was alright, irrational anger rode in the wake of his worry. "Do you know how irresponsible that was?! Jumping down from the cliff like that... I don't think I've ever seen anyone do something stupider than that! Well, may be except Bella. Are you trying to fight her for the 'most clumsy belle' award? And here I was led to believe you were smarter than that! Smartest witch her age, my ass!" Jacob rambled on.

"I'm sorry.." Hermione stared at Jake, confused with his ever changing emotions in infuriatingly quick successions.

"Do you really think an apology will make it all go away?" Jake asked her, his eyes narrowed in warning.

"I'm not apologizing to you, you moronic wolf! I'm taking offence at being compared to the nit-wit who is falling for a vampire's allure. And don't you dare take that tone with me, mister. This entire thing is your fault."

"My fault?" Now Jacob was thoroughly confused. I wasn't even around until she fell off the cliff! "How d'you reckon?"

"You stupid wolves think you all are invincible because of your speedy healing powers. But guess what? You're not! And even with all our magical potions and healing spells, there's only so much that can be done to bring back life into a broken body. So stop taking your genetics for granted, respect your place as your tribe's guardians and for the love of Merlin, stay the bloody hell away from suicidal games!"

"It's not a game. Well, not really. It's more of..."

"Does it really look like I care what you term the suicidal activity? I've had with all you guys acting like dumb-asses and behaving so carelessly."

"Careless? You think I am careless? When you are the one who jumped off a fifty feet high cliff with not even a slice of wolf-gene or any other speedy recovery mechanism in your body? Did you even spare a thought about what would happen to me if something untoward happened with you? You're really exasperating, you know that!"

"My friends needed me so I..." Hermione stopped and looked frowningly at Jake. "Wait.. what do you mean what would happen to you if something happened to me?"

Jake could pin-point the exact moment when Hermione connected all the dots in her head and something in her eyes changed, her body sagged, he felt it because he was still holding on to her, he realized belatedly, and she took one minuscule step back, taking her body mere centimeters away from his, but he felt it. He felt the loss, even as his grip on her wrist slacked.

Hermione craned her neck to search his eyes and what she saw in them clinched it for her. "You didn't..." she whispered disbelievingly.

Jake gulped. Fuck! This wasn't his plan. She wasn't supposed to find out, at least not till he was ready to accept the whole thing himself!

"You did..." Hermione answered her own question when no sound escaped Jacob's pursed lips. "When?" She asked.

She saw his Adam's apple move up and down his throat again, but before he could answer, Harry moved towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Mione. Leave him be. It had nothing to do with him."

How wrong Harry was, Jake thought, eyes glued to the brown ones that had wreaked havoc in his mind since he'd seen them.

Hermione registered the company they now had and quickly drew in a breath and continued, "If I ever hear a word about cliff jumping ever again from any one, wolf or otherwise, that guy is gonna be on the business end of my wand and trust me when I say this, I will hex him into the next week. You get that, Jacob Black!"

Then she pulled at Harry's hand and popped away appearing in front of a large white glass house. "I'm done playing the waiting game. We need to find out what they know and start our training accordingly and soon. Something tells me we don't have a lot of time and this is not going to be easy. There are too many non-magicals involved to shoot spells every which way. We need to hone our skills."

That said, she tugged his arm and pulled him towards the house, locking her new learnings from just a few moments before into a separate place in her heart and mind to visit it later when she had time to herself. Everything is just getting too messed up.

"Not that I mind the haste," Harry cut in, "but it would have been nice to visit with the vamps while wearing some clothes. While I'm not too conscious of my body, they are vampires – physically perfect and all that..."

Hermione gasped and apologized quickly, bending down to remove the small beaded bag she always carried on her person and pulled out a faded jeans, a simple t-shirt and a jacket for Harry to wear, from it.

While he was busy tugging on the clothes after spell-drying his boxers before pulling the jeans on, he half turned to face Hermione who was standing a few steps away from him, her back turned to afford him some privacy as he clothed himself. "Wanna tell me what just happened?"

"You jumped off a cliff, is what just happened Harry Potter! I saw you, Ron and Draco falling to certain death and snapped and jumped in after you all. You three had barely hit the water when I reached close enough to spell all four of us out."

"Mione.." Harry turned around completely, now all dressed as he zipped his jacket halfway up. "You know what I was asking about. What happened between you and Jacob? The large guy looked about to break when you apparated us out."

"He did?" Hermione suddenly felt very guilty. Of course he did! He imprinted on you, and he's probably gonna end up thinking you rejected him! An image of a sobbing Leah flashed in her mind when she remembered how the wolves felt if they thought they'd been rejected. Her hand flew to her mouth. "Merlin, what have I done!" she gasped out loud.

"Mione," Harry braced her, "want to clue me in? What's wrong? What's happening?"

"We need to go back," Hermione whispered to him, tugging at Harry's hand to make him turn around, away from the glass house only to have the door open behind them when they were no more than twenty paces away.

"I'm glad you finally decided to drop in. I've been waiting for you two since the past three days," came a sing-song soprano voice from the door as the little pixie-vampire smiled her welcome at the two teenagers.

"We'll sort it out once we're done here," Harry patted Hermione's back, urging her forward with him.

I just hope it's not too late by then, Hermione thought, then looked up at the vampires standing on their porch. "I know it's too much to ask after how we parted but can I borrow a cell phone? I need to call one of the wolves and it's urgent."

Edward heard the urgency in her voice and knew in his gut it had something to do with Bella's best friend. He was beside her in a flash, handing her his small black phone. "It has Sam's, Seth's and Jacob's number. Call anyone you need," he said and offered her a small smile.

She accepted his phone and returned his gesture with a small smile of her own. "Thank you," she whispered and excused herself to go to a corner to make the call. Harry wisely stayed outside the house, throwing a wandless silencio at Hermione to give her privacy. He knew she did not need anyone privy to her private call.

"Thank you," Hermione mouthed at him as the call rang.

"What do you want?" Jake barked into the phone, pissed beyond reason to have Edward Cullen of all people, calling him!

"I'm sorry I dashed away like that. Don't do anything rash. I'll be back soon and we can talk then, okay?" Hermione gushed out quickly into the phone.

"Why are you with Cullen?" Jake's temper was hitting the roof again. "Did you really leave me to go talk to go talk to the leech?" Was this going to be the story of my life?

"What! No! And don't you dare use derogatory names in front of me! You really are a piece of work, you know that!" Hermione all but yelled at Jacob.

"Then why are you calling from his phone?"

"I had work with the Cullens. All of them. Remember the war a crazy she-vamp is raging against your alleged best friend? I'm here to talk about that with them. Not that I need to give you any explanations..." she trailed off, biting her tongue. This wasn't gonna be easy.

"No... I guess you don't. Look I'm sorry for being an ass right now but honestly there's only so much lack of self-preservation and careless stupidity I can handle in an hour! Just.. just wait there for me, I'll be by in a few minutes."

"Look, Jacob, I don't need a guard dog. I only called because I realized my hasty exit might have hurt you and I did not want you to be hurting because of me."

Though she did not see it, Jake smiled on his end of the line. She cared enough to borrow the leech's phone and call me, when even Bella had never shown that much concern for him when she was around the bloodsuckers.

"Thank you," was all he managed. "Now, wait there till I come. Don't go in."

Hermione groaned. "No. How about you take this time to grow up and we see each other in the evening when I update everyone about what is about to happen here," she said instead and clicked the call off.

Jake held his own phone in his large hand and stared at it. She had clearly asked him to stay away and yet how could he when she was willingly walking into the vampire's lair. He fisted his hand around the phone and scowled for the wolf within wouldn't, couldn't, not follow his imprint's direct command and yet it was the same wolf in him that was roaring at him to go get her back from those dangerous beings. "They won't hurt her... They can't hurt her..." He repeatedly mumbled to himself. She's gotta be the most difficult imprint of them all, he thought to himself, rubbing his face in exasperation as he stripped his shirt and pants off, phased and ran into the woods. He wouldn't step in and defy her, but he'd be damned if he left her unprotected amongst the vampires.

Hermione snapped the flip-phone shut and turned around, walking back towards Harry and the others. "Thank you," she said again as she handed Edward his phone.

He smiled. "I'm sorry for trying to attack you that day. Wasn't the right thing to do," he apologized first.

"Me too. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions when I saw you with your singer."

"Fresh start?" he offered her his hand.

"Fresh start," Hermione nodded.

"Get in, and we can talk peacefully over tea and biscuits that I've freshly baked for you two," Esme called from the door.

"How did you know we'd be coming today?"

"We didn't. Well, not today in specific. Alice can see the future and she saw you two coming over, we just didn't know when that'd be. Esme's been baking since the very first day," Edward cleared for the two.

"Oh!" Harry and Hermione said together, both touched by her sweet gesture.

"Shall we?" Edward held the door open for the two and ushered them inside then looked out at the woods. He smirked and whispered under his breath, "Want me lay out a bowl of milk for you too, Mutt?" He chuckled softly when he heard and answering low growl and a few chosen words in his mind coming from the russet wolf hidden in the woods.

Shaking his head, Edward entered his home, making it a point to keep the door open to not threaten the guarding wolf's sanity.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

"So, now that we're all up to speed about the Cullens conforming to the Order's wishes, we need to get in touch with the Order to find out how we are to train for the forthcoming battle," Ron said after he heard Harry and Hermione out.

There were nods all around the tent, but for one.

"Way ahead of you. I already updated the Order while I was there. While they don't know of the recent developments at the Cullen end, Lupin will be here in two days' time, with a few others for strategizing and charting out training schedules. So no point in sending out owls tonight, they'll be here before the letter reaches them."

"Fair enough," Harry agreed to Draco's comment.

"So, now that we are done here, to the beach, everybody," Ginny cried with her arms in the air and almost pushed the all out. "And I don't care about anything, Mione, you are joining us for a swim."

"No, I'm not," Hermione shook her head, but folded her hands with Ginny's as the girls led the group towards the First Beach.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Jacob saw Hermione sitting on the same spot she had taken with Leah a few days back, looking at the sun that was fast approaching the horizon and sighed. He had to speak to her now and he only wished he could tell her all he felt, without muddling up her thoughts in turn, or worse yet, hurting her. He knew he'd never be able to forgive himself if he hurt her.

Jake made short work of the rocks and silently sat himself down beside Hermione, both lost in thought, wondering how to start it all.

Finally he broke the heavy silence. "It would've been nice to enter this relationship without previous baggage, like Seth and Ginny."

"So, he did imprint on her. I was wondering," was Hermione's reply.

"You can't tell her," Jake turned in horror to look at Hermione, wondering exactly why he had given away that piece of information to her, without her even asking about the two.

"I'm good with secrets, Black. Don't you worry about that," Hermione rolled her eyes.

She continued looking at the water's edge as Jake stared at his imprint. For the first time ever, looking his fill at her. The rays of the setting sun illuminated her fair skin, making is luminescent. Curly tendrils of her hair escaped her bun and framed her face, further softening her feminine features. Her caramel eyes turned gold in the waning sunlight. Her cute little button nose, high cheekbones, stained with a light smattering of colour, her curved jaw, giving her the perfect look between elegant and chic that other girls strived for with a ton of make-up but she was blessed with naturally. And he really did love the fact that she never wore any make-up, at least not as far as he had noticed. Thankfully, she never wore any of those strong perfumes either, because his wolf had a strong nose and even the mildest fragrances set him off. From the very first time he'd seen her in the forest, she'd smelled of wild flowers and cinnamon. He hadn't realized it yet, but he'd started favoring the spice in most all he ate. Then his eyes trailed down to her lips. He gulped... then saw her lips moving.

"Have you not been taught that it's rude to stare?" she asked him before pouting her lips and twisting them to show him her displeasure at being the object of his voyeuristic fascination.

Jake blushed in embarrassment, his colour stained cheeks upping his adorable ante in Hermione's eyes but she didn't relent, not showing him how cute she found his blush.

"Tell me about this imprinting, Jacob. I tried to find reading material on it but there's nothing too specific or even remotely informative. Just a few scribbled words here and there."

"Is that what you do? Need information, rush to find a book?" Jake smirked, not for a second believing she'd say the 'yes' as seriously as she did.

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Bookworm," he coughed.

"Proud and always," Hermione gave an amused smirk. "The guys are lucky this place doesn't have a half-decent library, or I'd be holed up in it all through our stay here, much to their annoyance. As it is I spend most mornings holed up in a corner, reading."

Jake's lips turned down to form a frown. Hermione looked at him expectantly and when he returned her look with confusion, she sighed, "You were telling me about imprinting..." she prompted.

Jake bit back his scowl. "If I tell you about imprinting, will you tell me about your relationship with the three boys you're living with?"

"I would've told you that anyway, Black. No need to get snarky about it."

Jake raised his brow and Hermione shrugged, "There's nothing to hide. They are my closest friends and I love them to bits. Draco was a school nemesis who now is my partner in all the things that we do. Apparently, we fit in seamlessly together and when cornered we have same tactics of rebuttal so its easy for us to work together, just like it is for Ron and Harry who get each other's backs when needed."

"Ron and Harry are my best friends and I've shared so much with them that we're nearly inseparable. Harry and me more so, actually. I used to crush on Ron but that went away with time. We are both at a place where we know we are better off as friends than anything else. And we've accepted that quite well."

"And Harry... well, he is just my Harry..."

"Your Harry?" Jake was astounded by the sheer jealously that flared inside of him.

"Yes, my Harry. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him. I'd die for him in the blink of an eye and if it came to it, I'd kill for him too. I obliviated my parents to be by his side, so Harry could be the sole focus of my attention, and I wouldn't be worried about their safety while trying to help Harry through our year of run."

That raises more questions than it answers, Jake surmised. He decided to take the bull by its horns first. "Do you love him?"

"Are you stupid? Or just dense?" "Excuse me..."

"Of course I love him, you idiot. Why would I do all of that if I didn't?" Hermione pinned Jake with a look that suggested she was really trying to figure out his mental well-being. "Though probably not in the way you think. There's nothing romantic about our relationship. Harry is just so much more than a friend or even a brother to me, but I could never think of sharing my life with him in that manner. He is my other half... kind of like how twins are, you know? We've always been there for each other through thick and thin for seven years now. I've held his hand when things were tough and he's the shoulder I cry on when everything gets too much for me. We complete each other but... it's not in the romantic sense, you know...?" Then she scrunched her nose, "I'm really not sure if you understand..."

"Neither am I," Jake agreed. "But I gather that he is very important to you. You'd do anything for him, yet you'd never like to take things up with him in a romantic way," he finished.

Hermione nodded, "That about sums it up."

"Then why aren't you two partners? Wouldn't it make sense to pair the two of you together for fights and such?"

"Couple of reasons, actually. The first and foremost one amongst them being that if anything happened to me under Harry's watch he would never be able to forgive himself and I won't have him living with the guilt of my death for the rest of his days. Secondly, Ron and Draco can never work together, they mix as well as water and oil. They are just too different about everything, no common point at all, so pairing them is sure shot failure. Harry knows Ron best, and when you see them fight, you'll see what I mean. They literally work as one on the field, they're so used to each other. There was this one time while we were on the run that Ron left us for a bit and Harry came across a sword that would help us kill the Horcruxes; and of course Harry, being Harry, never bothered to come back to get me but jumped into the lake in the frigid temperatures to retrieve the sword from the bottom of the lake by himself. Obviously the lake froze over once he'd jumped in and he couldn't come out of it. But Ron found him just then and pulled him out and they destroyed the horcrux by the lake's shore before coming back to me. Call it luck, coincidence, whatever you'd like, but they always come through for each other, even if it is just at the nick of time, so their pairing makes the perfect sense."

"While Draco and I are said to be the brightest of our age. We are more alike than either of us would like to let on. We think quite similarly, so it made sense for the pairings to be the way they are," Hermione trailed off.

Jake nodded in understanding. "And what's obliviating? The thing you did your parents," he asked. Hermione tilted her head and frowned at him. "You're really nosy, you know that?"

Jake flashed her a rare lop-sided grin. "I like to think of it as curiosity," he winked.

Hermione tried in vain to control her blush but failed miserably so opted to look away. She considered in her mind the merits of telling him, a virtual stranger, something so close to her heart that only selective few knew the truth. He was bound to her, he could never cheat or abuse her, she knew but this... it was a vital piece of information that even after so many years wretched havoc in her mind. But if she wanted to find a mid-way with this imprinting relationship, they had to be honest to each other. She sighed.

"If I tell you that, will you promise me something?" She decided to bargain. Jake immediately went on the defensive. "What?"

"Your honesty. Look, whatever this imprinting thing is about, if we want to make it work, we'll have to be honest to each other. There's no relationship that can be founded without it. If you promise me your honesty, I'll return the favor, I promise."

Jake looked deeply into his imprint's light caramel eyes, considering her offer. She didn't even know what it was, and yet she wanted to make it work because she did not want him hurt. Whether she was just that compassionate about everyone, or was it the imprint's pull she was responding to, he didn't know. What he did know was that, even if he wanted to, the wolf could never lie to the imprint, so he had nothing to lose if he promised her his honesty. He nodded in agreement. "I'll always be honest with you, I promise."

Hermione nodded, and shuffled around to settle herself more comfortably on the hard rock. She pushed her knees close to her chest and folded her arms around them, settling her chin on her knees as she gazed at the lashing waves. "It was a year before the final battle. The strongest wizard on the light side was murdered, so we'd lost our biggest and smartest ally. My parents, as you know, are muggles. I had decided to go with Harry to hunt down the horcruxes, but with me gone, they'd be sitting ducks. They're dentists you know. They've led simple lives. There was no way they could fight to defend themselves, less so against magic. So I... I erased myself from their memory and gave them the urge to sell everything off and move to Australia to start a new life."

"I did the spell and then left my house without a backward glance. Even today, I don't know where they are. How they are..." she was lost in thought before she continued, "I.. it was something I had to do. I'm not proud of it, but I'd do it again if I had to, to protect them."

"You erased yourself from your parents memories to be with Harry?"

"Judge me all you want, Black, but I won't feel remorse for my actions. I did what I had to, to save the ones I love."

"I'm not judging you," Jacob said, moving closer to Hermione. He brought his hand forward to touch her, but curled his fingers into a fist mid-way and brought it back. Hermione saw his actions from the corner of her eyes but didn't say a word about it, instead willed him to continue, to speak his mind. "At least not in any unfavorable way. Hermione, I'm not sure how much magical strength that must have taken, but you sure are the strongest person I've ever met to put yourself through it all. And all this so you could keep your family protected while you fought a war beside your best friend..."

"I think I'm finally getting to understand your devotion towards Harry..." Jacob said in understanding.

They stayed quiet for the next few minutes. Hermione lost in thought while Jake processed everything he'd learned about her.

"Imprinting..." he started when he finally had his thoughts in order, "it's a boon and a curse all rolled into one. I know Leah told you how it happens, so won't repeat that bit. But once the wolf imprints, his, or hers in Leah's case, imprint becomes the center of their lives, the reason for our living. We'd be anything our imprint wants us to be – a brother, a friend, a lover, anything. The imprint's happiness is all that matters."

This time Hermione turned her head to look at Jacob as he gazed out at the sea. "It must be difficult," she whispered softly, "to not have any control over something so primal to our existence like love." She patted his hand in condolence, ignoring the buzzing lightening that shot through her arm, and when he looked at her, she offered him a small smile instead. "I'm sorry it had to be this way for you... for all of you..."

Jake looked at his imprint and felt a tightening in his chest, his hand, where she'd touched him still tingling. With just a few words, she'd gone straight to the heart of the matter. He smiled in return. "It's not that bad. The wolves who've worked it out with imprints swear that it's the best thing that's happened to them. The only thing that makes this turning into monster thing worthwhile, they say," he shook his head.

Hermione scrunched her nose. "One of these days, I'm gonna have to sit you all down and instill the pride that should come with your heritance, in you all. You guys are the protectors of your tribe. You all are taking a long-lost heritage ahead, making history, leaving legacies, and yet you all act as if it's such a bad thing."

"It isn't most of the time. But compassionate people like you are hard to come by. Not everyone understands it or even sees it the way you do," Jake offered. "Most of us have actually had major problems when the imprints were told about us and about imprinting. You're probably the first one to react so normally, to just sit and talk this through so rationally."

"Nonetheless..." Hermione gave him a warning glare, refusing to feel the warmth spreading in her because of his compliments. He is biased, she reasoned, "no more putting yourself down or I'll have all you doing pride-walks and confidence building drills."

Jake laughed heartily. "Yes, ma'am. Your wish is my command."

Hermione lost a little colour at that. "Look, it can't be this way. You are a person, and as such entitled to your own views and allowed to make your own decisions. I can share with you but you have no right to tell me what to do and vice-versa."

"I'm a wolf, Hermione, not a purse dog. I have to tell. I'll try not to force you or make you listen to me but I have to get my point across to you."

"Fair enough. I'll meet you half-way. I take my calls, you take yours, but we consult each other."

"You'd be okay with it?" Jacob asked in shock. Not a million years had he thought Hermione would make his imprinting on her, easy on him in any way. He was expecting her to throw a gasket and then reject the bond. But this... this was promising.

"Of course!" Then after a minute she added, "So, you said, this doesn't necessarily mean love of the romantic kind. You could be anything from my brother, friend, lover – whatever I wanted you to mean to me, right?"

Jake nodded, his wolf within not quite liking where this was going but held his peace. The man was in control for now, and he liked knowing he wasn't being forced into anything.

"How about we start with friendship for now? See how it goes? As good as I am sure you are, I really don't know you well enough to fall in love with you. And as much as I believe in magic, I'd like to know I chose my beau myself, not under any compulsion."

Jake agreed. Her words mirrored his thoughts.

"If it's meant to be, it'll grow into something. If not, we'll still be friends. See, I need you to understand something. I told the same to Leah too, the other day. We have soul-mates too, and when our magic finds him or her, that's it, nothing can come in between us. If we, you and I, are that for each other, our friendship will take a natural course and move on to something more... with or without our aid. But expecting me to go gaga about you all of a sudden is just not happening, Jacob."

"I agree."

Hermione considered the tall guy from under her lashes and flashed him a brilliant smile. "Friends, then?" she offered her his hand to shake.

"Till the end," Jacob brought out his warm one and engulfed her tiny hand in his.

The zing that they both felt shooting through their body at the light touch was something they decided to keep private and not to mention to the other, at least until they figured out what was going on between them.

"Hmmm.. now, friend, tell me what exactly is happening between Draco and Leah?" Jacob tried to stir the conversation onto a neutral topic.

"Jacob Black, are you trying to engage me in gossip?" Hermione raised her brow. "Hey! A guy can try, can't he?" Jake offered with an easy grin and a wink.

Hermione laughed, shaking her head and they both sat peacefully beside each other watching their friends play, loud shouts drifting up to them every now and again.

But this time around, the silence was companionable, engulfing them both in peace from within.

AN: For those who have these doubts...

Q : 'Why was Draco's marriage contract broken yet Hermione gets to only be friends with Jacob?'

A : Because... just like the Veelas, every magical creature has its mate protected by the laws, since being away from their mates can cause the magical creature's death due to the grief they suffer.

On the other hand, Hermione hasn't found any material relating to imprinting and Jake (as well as the other wolves) honestly believe that they'd be anything for their imprint – friend, brother, protector, lover, whatever was needed. So she feels that instead of nose-diving into a romantic relationship, being friends first is a better start. Let's just say its gonna take Hermione a wee bit of time to figure the intricacies of imprinting out.

Q : 'Why does Draco have to accept the imprinting bond?'

A : I've kept the laws same as the ones protecting Veelas. Magical Creatures with human intelligence are rare and I believe that if the ministry can come up with laws to protect one species, they'd do the same for them all.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Happy New Year, everyone!

Okay, readers... need your votes!!

I'm thinking of writing a new Vampire Hermione story and can't decide who her beau should be...

I'd prefer Sam or Jake, but I'm open to suggestions... please drop me your opinion through the reviews...

Voting lines will stay open till the 31st of Jan!

Chapter 13:

"So, you've sorted things out with your imprint?" Jared asked Jacob after the wizards had left with the witches for their tent and wolves were gathered in a circle at the beach, just chatting for a change.

Jacob gave a silly grin without conscious thought as he nodded his head. "Yes. And it feels great! She just understood me so perfectly – no drama, no tears, no nothing. And she isn't even forcing me to develop feelings for her nor did she outright reject our bond. She said we could start by giving friendship a try and take it from there. I just could not have asked for anything more. She's brilliant, you know, simply amazing, my Hermione... I hadn't dared to think someone would understand what I needed so well..."

"Jeez stop! I was only trying to be polite. No need to talk my ear off, you drama queen," Jared teased.

"I'm happy to see things between you and your Hermione are working out well," Sam said with his dimple showing as he tried in vain to hide his knowing smile.

Jake blushed. He hadn't realized it when he'd called Hermione his, but Sam's teasing was enough to remind him of it. "Yeah, we're alright. Well, at least for now."

Leah sat quietly through the exchange, lost in thought. "Was she really that forthcoming and... and understanding?" she asked after a few minutes of silent contemplation of Jacob's words.

Jake nodded and flashed her a reassuring smile, knowing what concerns were running circles in her mind. "She said something about them having soul-mates too and how their magic responds to their soul-mates. We're just going to give this a shot, like any normal couple, if our feelings get stronger we'll think about what's next, if not, she'll still stay in touch so the imprinting doesn't hurt me much when she's away."

Sam could've have burst Jake's delusional bubble but he opted to hold his peace and let Jacob figure all out for himself. If Sam understood anything about imprinting at all, and he did, nothing but a complete consensual romantic relationship of the sexual kind was what imprinting demanded of the wolf and his imprint. He knew only Quil was an exception to the rule because his imprint was too young for anything of that sort and his wolf was only whiling away his time playing all the other parts in his imprint's life till she was old enough to accept him. Once Claire was of age, Sam would bet his money that Quil was not going to be happy about being just a friend, just like he was now willing to place bets on Jake's wolf roaring inside of him about the shit he'd gotten himself into. The wolf wanted, needed, his mate by his side, and all their wolves were gonna play the boys by their ears until they listened to them and gave in!

Sam smirked remembering the tribe's elders telling them that's Jake's imprinting was the strongest because he was in his wolf form when that happened. And Sam knew first hand that Jake's was the strongest wolf of the pack. It was only because Jake was willing to conform that his wolf accepted Sam as their Alpha, but the second Jake would give that up, his wolf would definitely come forth and assert his power, showing everyone who the true Alpha was!

It was for that very reason that Sam had offered him the place of the Alpha not a few weeks after Jake had turned. Despite being the current Alpha, Sam knew in his gut that Jake was the stronger one between the two, for heaven's sake, even his wolf was larger than Sam's own! And if he was being honest, Sam wanted Jake to accept his heritance and take up the tribe's and the pack's responsibilities, because he secretly wanted to give up phasing in a few years and grow old with his Emily.

It was for that reason alone that Sam took extra care with Jacob, training him that wee bit extra, in the hopes that he would one day accept his duty and take up the role he was born to play.

And the fact that he would have a witch by his side – and not just any witch but one who was believed to be the brightest of the age, was a case in point. Jake was meant to be a strong Alpha and scion a linage of brave and brilliant, magical and shape-shifting pups. Now, if only he pulled his head out of his ass and accepted all that was in front of him, Sam would be that much more relaxed and would stay with his Emily growing old on their porch with her that much sooner.

Smiling at the picture that was stuck in his head, Sam looked at the pack and smiled. As weird as it may sound to others, this was his family and he genuinely did want everyone safe and happy. He could feel a change coming over, a big one, if he was judging, and he just wished everyone made it to the other end in one piece.

The training for the upcoming war against the Newborn Vampires was starting soon enough, so he whistled loudly and ordered everyone to go back home and rest, knowing they would need it. They were going to practice with wizards, witches and vampires after all!

The group broke up and Seth and Jake made their way to the wood's edge to phase for their nightly patrols as all others went back home. After everyone left, Leah stood up looking between the forest and the route to her house in consideration.

She wanted nothing more than to go back to her place, bury her head under her blanket and cry yet again. But Jacob's little talk with Hermione had given her hope and she did not want to lose her nerve now. Why, even Seth's doing well with his own magical imprint! With that armoring thought, decision made, she took her first step towards her imprint, hoping against hope that he wouldn't reject her even before he'd heard her out.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Hey, Jake, would you mind if I run off after our perimeter check?" Seth asked Jake through their mind link.

"Why? Got a hot date?" Jake smirked, then winced as images of Seth plastered across Ginny with a tree behind her supporting their weight flashed through his mind before it abruptly dissolved.

"Shit! I need to work on better thought control," Seth growled to himself, yet Jake heard him again. "Yes. Please do. That's not something I want to see as long as I can avoid it."

"Screw you!" Seth grumbled as they finished their check and started walking back.

Jake saw a shimmer in the night air as Ginny stepped out of the wards, their tent being quite close to where Jake and Seth were now standing. Seth jumped behind a tree to change while Ginny walked up the large russet wolf.

"Hey! You are Mione's wolfie..." she exclaimed looking at the large wolf.

Damn right I am! Jake's wolf thought smugly, just as a grinning Seth stepped out from behind the trees.

"How did you know that was Jake?"

"What!" Ginny looked from the wolf to Seth and back again. "How is Jake Hermione's wolf? What am I missing?" she asked her gaze moving from the animal to the human and back again.

"Seth, what exactly is happening?" Ginny asked in a no-nonsense voice, her hands on her waist.

Jake shook his head and walked away unnoticed to give the couple privacy for what he was sure was coming. Not a few meters away, he caught Leah's scent in the air and smirked in his head. Looks like all the wolves are coming clean today...

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Why did you call Jake Hermione's wolf? Has she told you anything about them?"

"Yeah... but probably not what you were speaking of." Ginny tapped her foot waiting for more information as Seth pulled at the collar of his shirt suddenly feeling too hot and sweaty.

"Ginny... Why don't you tell me what you know and then I'll tell you what I've been meaning to tell you from the minute I saw and yet always lost courage?"

"No deal." Ginny shook her head. "You forget I've grown up with too many boys to know you'll turn on your words at the last minute."

"Ginny," Seth held her wrist and pulled her close to him. "First of, I am not one of your brothers. And trust me on this, I definitely do not want to be one of them too. Because if you start seeing me like that, this would be very wrong," he said and kissed her – something he wanted to do from the second he saw her stepping out of the wards. "Secondly, I've never gone back on any promise I made to you, nor do I plan on starting on it now," he said and pecked her nose. "But I need to understand what you know so I can make all of it easier on you... please sweetie, let me do this my way," he pleaded looking into her deep brown eyes.

Ginny nodded, barely controlling the shiver that passed through her at the intense look Seth was giving her. "I only know that Hermione meet the large russet wolf on their first night here and she said he reminded her of her cat because his eyes looked as intelligent as Crookshank's. That's it, that's all I know."

Seth threw his head back and laughed. "You're trying to tell me that Hermione found a stray wolf the size of half a truck and thought that it resembled her familiar?"

"Yeah, she's weird that way," Ginny grimaced and Seth grinned, pecking her lips again because it was just that difficult for him to keep away, especially when she was so close to him, cocooned right in his arms. "You're turn now."

Seth visibly paled, his hands turning sweaty. "Okay, so uhm... Do you remember the first time we saw each other? How stumped I was? Despite having those leeches around, I could do nothing more than stare at you?"

Ginny blushed and nodded, but did not relent her inquisition. "What about it?"

"Well, I was that way because I imprinted. On you. This is not how I planned on telling you, but since you insisted..." he shrugged his shoulders.

"What's imprinting?" Ginny pressed for information since she had no idea whatsoever about it.

"Imprinting is the wolf in me choosing his mate. The one person to whom the wolf and man will have their life tied to forever. The choosing of the person who becomes so important to our lives that neither air nor gravity matters after we look at her. Our imprint becomes our world and we do everything in our power to keep her safe, happy and make her feel loved."

"I'm sorry, but are you trying to tell me that with one look you knew I was your forever girl?"

Seth grinned, nodding exuberantly.

"And still," Ginny put her hand on his chest to stop him from closing the distance between them. "And still... you decided to withhold that information and are telling this to me now only because I asked?" Ginny's hair never sparked in her furry but the rigidity in her stance was enough to scare Seth.

"I... I did not mean to... I didn't want you hurt..." "Yet you lied to me?"

"I didn't lie, Ginny..." Seth looked really troubled at the prospect of having his imprint thinking that he'd lied to her.

"Yes, you did Seth. You lied by omission. You should have come clean with me that night itself. Or the day after. Seth we've been out and about since we met. Hell! I'm sneaking out into the wild for snog fests with you and you still felt like you needed to hide something this important... something that impacted my entire fucking life... from me?"

Seth gulped, Ginny's angry words rendering him speechless.

"Ginny..." he tried, whispering her name like plea, urging her understand where he came from.

"No Seth, that's just not done. You may not have had control over this imprinting bit but what happened thereafter, you definitely knew all too well. I can't... I can't do this. Not like this... Not right now. Go back Seth. Go back home and come to me when you think you're ready to speak nothing but the unfiltered truth with me."

Saying that Ginny walked back into the wards, disappearing from his sight.

Seth for his part, could not believe what had just happened! One minute he was kissing Ginny and the next she was gone. Because he hadn't plucked up the courage to tell her everything earlier. He'd wanted to woo her and she'd accused him of lying by omission. She was angry on him... His imprint hated him...

Seth felt his knees collapse under his weight as his body sagged and he fell on the forest floor, the ache in his chest just too much for him to bear. He'd hurt his imprint. She was sad, probably crying if the mist in her eyes in the last look she flashed him was anything to go by, and he was the reason behind her tears.

He only wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole... -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"You lied by omission..." Ginny's words hit Leah like a truck right on her face. She'd lied to Draco by omission too.

Of their own accord, she felt her legs making their wobbly way back to her cottage to cry herself to sleep yet another night in a row. Funny how she hadn't shed so many tears for Sam... but in her given mood, she couldn't find the mirth in that situation at all...


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Hermione woke up at the crack of dawn, the odd angle in which she'd crashed on her book the night before taking its toll on her stiff body. She groaned as she stretched and only when her bones popped with a satisfactory crack did she find enough strength to walk away from the desk in the library corner of the tent.

Out of habit she peeped into the other bedrooms and stood rooted to the spot when she saw Ginny's eyes swollen and dried tear-streaks on her face.

Oh, what had happened now?! Though she had an inkling of what was going on. She could after all relate to it. To find out that you now have very little control over your own life was a little too much to take after fighting a war for living freely. Ironic huh?

Hermione cleaned up Ginny's face with a quick spell and stormed out of the tent, intent on getting some answers. Stepping out of the protective wards, she turned into her animagus form and ran to the edge of the woods, to get out faster. Then using a point-me she followed the directions her wand gave to find Seth.

It landed her outside a black door of a quaint little house that seemed to have a lot of outdoor space. Hermione gave a sharp knock and the door and waited for it to open. It took a few long minutes, but finally a man with long shoulder-length hair opened the door while being perched on a wheelchair.

"Sir, I'm here to speak to your son, Seth. Could you please call him out? It's a little urgent."

Billy eyed the girl, who was clearly British, with keen interest. Was she Seth's imprint or his son's? he wondered, but pushed his wheelchair away from the door and rolled further into the hall to allow her entry into his house. Well she was here to see Seth, so maybe she's his girl, Billy reasoned in his mind.

"Seth's in the second room on the left. I'm afraid you'll have to go in and wake him up if it's that urgent though, they got in too late last night for him to be awake just yet."

Nodding and thanking the kind man, Hermione made her way to the indicated room. She knocked at the door before pushing it open marginally then completely when she saw Seth curled upon himself, sniffling and balling his eyes out.

"Oh Seth..." Hermione cried from the door and rushed in. "What happened to you two? There Ginny's all... and you here..."

"Ginny's all what...?" Seth asked worriedly, looking up at Hermione, his eyes all red and just as puffy as Ginny's.

Hermione sighed. "I'll tell you, but after you clean up. I'll wait for you outside. Get up, clean up, dress up and see me in ten, okay?"

Seth nodded and bolted out the door, leaving Hermione alone in to the room he had occupied not three seconds back. Muttering a very exaggerated 'boys' under her breath, Hermione walked back to the sitting room, waiting for Seth to come to her.

"May I interest you in some tea till you wait."

Hermione smiled softly at the gentleman. "If it's not too much trouble. I rushed out in a flurry and would actually kill for some tea or even coffee, right about now."

"You drink coffee?" Billy asked surprised.

"Yeah, one of my friends is a big fan and has his brew shipped straight from Ghana. Let's just say it's a taste I've acquired in his constant company. He can down gallons of it without realizing."

Billy smiled at the girl in return. "Coffee it is then. Though I'm not sure how you'd like the local brew compared to the imported lot."

"I'm sure it'll be lovely, Mr. Clearwater. May I help you with anything?"

That halted Billy, who just then realized she'd called Seth his son when she'd come there.

"I think we've got a case of mistaken identity," Billy smiled genially at the young girl, "I'm Black, Billy Black, Jake's father. This is our house. Jake found Seth sobbing in the woods late last night when his patrols were just finishing and brought him home. I have two twin daughters who stay away from home and my wife, while she was alive, loved to entertain, so we have the spare rooms to house guests easily enough."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Hermione blushed at her obvious mistake. "I should've introduced myself as soon as I got here. I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger, a friend of your son."

Billy shook her hand, "Pleasure Miss Granger. Make yourself at home while I get the coffee going." "May I help with anything, Mr. Black?"

"No, that won't be necessary, thank you dear."

It was just then that Hermione looked around the hall and saw the photos of not Seth and Leah but Jacob with his family all around. There were two girls in most pictures along with a little Jacob between them, but there was one that caught Hermione's eyes immediately. It was of the man on the wheelchair, Billy, though he wasn't injured in it. He stood tall and proud beside a beautiful native woman with long black hair, both clothed in their wedding finery. The photo was a typical black-and- white one, printed in an oval shape but it was beautiful in all its simplistic glory.

Unthinkingly, Hermione walked towards the picture, running her finger lightly over the woman in the photo. "She was beautiful," she whispered, when she heard sounds of shuffling behind her, expecting it to be Jake's father, while still eyeing the photo with a soft expression, she turned.

Billy, who'd just kept the coffee on for percolation, smiled. With that one sentence spoken in such a soft voice, Billy knew his son had the perfect imprint. She was exactly what his family needed to bring them out of the grief they were still suffering from, even after so many years of his beloved's death.

"Yeah, she was," Jacob repeated Hermione's sentiment with much the same emotion if not in so many words, as he looked at her with an odd expression on his handsome face as he climbed down the stairs, gawking first at his imprint and then his father. "Hermione, what are you doing here?"

Hermione jumped at the sound of Jake's voice and moved her hand over her chest to slow her hammering heart. "I came to see Seth."

Jake scrunched his eyebrows and hated the jealousy that again rose like bile in his stomach. He did not voice out the why that was on the tip of his tongue. Instead asked, "How did you know he was here?"

Hermione pulled her eyes away from Jake's to glance quickly at Billy's retreating figure as he rolled himself into what she assumed was their kitchen, to get their coffees. "Uhm..." Hermione trailed off, discreetly fingering the wand she had tucked under her sleeve, hoping Jacob would get the clue.

He did and he smirked when he realized she did not want to speak of the tabooed 'm' word. "Don't worry, he knows about you lot," Jake said simply. "He is the tribe's leader and all the tribe's elders had to be informed about you all."

"Oh," Hermione blushed a tad in embarrassment. Right then, Seth stepped out the room he had occupied for the night and walked straight to Hermione, his eyes pleading even though his lips were sealed shut.

Hermione moved away from the picture on the mantel, towards the youth who was now standing like a man awaiting his death penalty. "Wanna clue me in as to what really happened?"

"You mean, Ginny didn't tell you anything?"

"I didn't speak to her, just woke up to her tear-streaked face and put two and two together and came looking for you. I'm assuming you told her about imprinting..."

Seth nodded.

"She didn't take it too well?" Hermione guessed again.

Seth shook his head. "She hates me. She said I'd lied to her by omission," Seth sniffled, biting his tongue to keep from shedding unmanly tears.

Hermione held back her groan. "Seth sit down. And listen to me," she said and moved to take the seat beside him, rubbing her hand soothingly over his back, something that Jake did not like one bit.

She's never touched me like that!

"I can't tell you everything, it's not my place to share, but you need to understand that we've just come out of a war a few months back. All the hiding, lying, it doesn't sit too well with us. The wounds are too fresh, too raw..."

"But I didn't lie! I only wanted to woo her before telling her. I wanted her to be in love with me before telling her about imprinting. I did not want her to feel forced into anything. Was it so wrong of me, that she doesn't even want to see me anymore?"

"Oh Seth..." Hermione felt her heart break for the younger couple. She gave Seth a half hug and Jake felt the wood of the bannister cracking under his fist. He quickly let go off it before anyone could notice. "I'm not saying what you did was wrong, just that we don't like it when things are hidden from us. That's all."

"You've had her wooed and smitten for days now. And you have to realize Seth, at the end of it all she is a red head! She can only have that much patience or even calm thinking!" Hermione made light of the situation, breaking Seth's face in a small smile.

"Good. Now, I want you to come with me. I'll get the boys out of the tent. You'll have about ten minutes before Ron loses his gasket. Make good use of it. And let me warn you, the Weasleys don't make it any easier..."

Seth nodded his head vigorously. "But will Ginny stay to hear me out?"

Hermione considered that for a second before relenting. "I'll put a compulsion charm on her for the first few minutes, the rest is up to you."

Seth bobbed his head vigorously.

As they stood up to leave, Seth turned to look at Billy, "Billy, do you think we could have a campfire tonight? Please," he pleaded.

Billy smilingly nodded. "Of course. All the imprints must know of the tribes legends," he replied looking right at Hermione.

Real subtle dad, Jake rolled his eyes as he saw Hermione and Seth leave. "Wait up, I'll come with..."

Hermione had no idea what had transpired between the young couple in the morning but at least they were both looking better than they had previously. They didn't look back-to-normal, far from it, but they were speaking to each other and not crying! She figured she would get the details out of Ginny later anyway, so she could wait.

In the evening when they were just about to leave for the campsite, Embry and Paul came and whisked Harry and Ron away while the girls were getting ready. Ginny quickly stepped out when she heard Draco considering joining the other boys. Discreetly she held him back. "It's for the imprints only. You need to be there," she warned, forcing him to sit back.

Draco's eyes shuttled between both of Ginny's looking for something. "We'll kill the bastard," he growled. "Who the fuck did it to Granger? I swear to Merlin, that dipshit's not going to know what hit him when we're done with him."

Ginny scowled. Hermione intervened. "Why's Malfoy so murderous?" she asked stepping out of their room in the tent, sporting her patented jeans and converses with a cute red top.

"It's nothing," Ginny acted all nonchalant.

"We're not done here," Draco whispered quickly to Ginny when Hermione was distracted. "If you don't tell me by tonight, I'll tell all to Potter and the Weasel. All bets are off then," he warned before walking out the tent.

"You're here..." Seth smiled his welcome, though his eyes were only on Ginny as he welcomed the three magicals between them.

When Ginny didn't respond, Hermione huffed. "Yeah, but I'm sorry Harry and Ron couldn't make it. Paul and Embry took them away for the night."

Seth looked on in confusion at Hermione but held his tongue when Ginny gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of her head to keep him from voicing his question.

"Come along, have a seat," Seth indicated a few logs for them to sit on. "There's food there," he pointed at the tables set not too far from the bonfire. "You know most all present, and Jake's bringing his father, Billy, in a few minutes and then we'll hear all about the legends of the Quileute tribe."

Seth ranted on nervously, then wiped his hands, which Hermione assumed had gone all sweaty, over his cut-offs and glanced nervously at Ginny. "Uhm... think we could talk for a minute? In private," he hastily added. Ginny pursed her lips but nodded and walked away with Seth, leaving Draco and Hermione to mingle by themselves.

"You looking forward to hearing the legends, then?" Draco started conversationally.

"Yes, I think it's a wonderful idea to pass on folklore to the younger generations through age-old methods. Draco, the knowledge that we'll get today is not a part of any book or any other educational material. It's passed on through generations... Why are you laughing?"

Draco in turn shook his head. "You're just such a bookworm! Had Potter not been your friend, I'm pretty sure you'd have finished reading all the books back at Hogwarts library by the end of our third year! Are you simply always this knowledge-hungry?"

Hermione shrugged but her shrug answered Draco's question just fine.

A few minutes into greeting a few pack members and their families, Billy had been settled and the fire lit, so the people gathered around it and settled themselves for a night of legends and food.

Seth managed to keep Ginny by his side, right next to Billy, refusing to let go of her hand. And while Ginny scowled at him, Hermione did notice the small smile that was playing on her lips when Seth was speaking to Billy as she watched their entwinned fingers. Hermione smirked.

Jake claimed the other spot beside his father, seating himself between Billy on one side and Sam and Emily on the other, from where he could clearly see Hermione who was sitting bang opposite his father, not that he planned on making that bit of his reason for choosing the said spot, common knowledge.

Draco was sitting beside Hermione, the two hadn't left each other's company since they'd arrived and feeling dejected, Leah took the spot beside Jake. She hated being so close to Sam and Emily, but just then, nothing much beside her furious imprint was registering in her mind. The remainder of the guests and the pack were sprinkled all around the bonfire.

Seeing them all settled, Billy started on with the legends. He spoke of the guardians, who shifted shapes to protect the tribe, of the third wife who sacrificed herself to protect her husband and ended up saving the tribe too. And then he moved on to imprinting, speaking of how the wolves sometimes found their one true love and to be happy they needed that one person in their lives constantly.

Hermione heard Billy out quietly, just like everyone else, but when he started speaking about imprinting, her eyes unwittingly sought Jacob out, only to come to a stop when she realized he was seated in front of her and was staring right back.

Feeling her cheeks coloring, she glanced away quickly, the entire exchange not quite going unseen by a certain Slytherin seated right beside her who took the liberty of glaring holes at the side of Jacob's head. May be I should round up Pothead Weasel and warn the brute off...

Slowly the fire started to dwindle and light musical notes filled the salty air on the beach. Jacob excused himself from the gathering for a bit to take his father back home. The other pack members, their imprints, all gathered around the finger good Emily had prepared for the occasion. Afterall, three other imprints had heard the legends that night, she wanted to mark the night as special in everyone's minds.

Ever the gentleman, Draco made his way towards the food table and brought food for both Hermione and himself, Ginny he checked was very cared for by Seth. While Draco had moved away, Hermione quickly walked to Leah and urged her to speak to him, but Leah found no courage from within to do as bidden and walked away from Hermione to take a seat far away from the evening's festivities. Well, far enough to be away from the celebration that she anyways felt no part of but was sat close enough to eye her fill of her imprint who, for some reason, she realized with a pang, was suddenly doting on the witch with him.

Hermione spoke with Colin and Brady while eating, though she did notice Draco's subtle nuances every time his eyes fell on Leah who was seated too far for Hermione's liking. But she said nothing. She would give the couple two more days she decided. If they didn't sort things out between themselves before Professor Lupin got in, she'd knock some sense into them! But for the next two days, she'd hold her peace, even if the threads were quickly fraying.

Unable to decide what to do with his imprint, Jacob took his time at home, pacing his small room, wondering if he should speak with Hermione that night, and if he did, what exactly was it that he needed to say...??!! But by the time he got back to the bonfire, the fire had almost died down and his decision was made for him by Hermione!

The crackling fire, slowly mellowing, the light music, the constant crashing of waves and the salt in the air were romantic for most; for Hermione the whole scenario lulled her off to sleep! After her plate was cleared, she stared quietly into the dying embers of the fire and found her lids drooping close and her head falling ahead with its own weight.

With one quick shuffle, Draco caught Hermione's lolling head and moved a tad to adjust it on his shoulder. Then, unable to resist the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he discreetly looked around. Something in his grey eyes hardened like ice when they clashed with the green ones looking at him first and then at the witch beside him brokenly, but she quickly looked away, unable to hold his penetrating gaze.

Draco only showed his displeasure with his eyes to the girl whose adamance was wreaking havoc with his mind and magic, but turned his head as soon as she turned hers, and came back to his brilliant plan. Continuing to sweep his gaze across the clearing, he made sure no one was watching him, then he bent his head and touched his lips to Hermione's hair, quickly muttering a spell under his breath.

For a second there, Leah was sure Draco was stealing a quick loving kiss but then Hermione's hair turned a bright neon green and despite everything she laughed, throwing her head back in the complete innocence of the prank.

For a fleeting second green met grey again, but they were silver this time and the smile on both their faces stayed for a few precious seconds before the moment was stolen and reality returned, making them look away swiftly.

Minutes later, Ginny was swearing up a storm, waking Hermione in the process and when she realized what had happened... well, let's just say everyone would definitely remember that night for a very long time – what with Hermione sporting green hair, Ginny's flashing like signboards and Draco and most other boys who had had the courage to laugh at the two witches going hairless till the following morning when Draco handed them all vials of hair growth potion that he'd brewed through the night since he couldn't find the counter-jinx to Hermione's hex.

Hermione and Ginny stayed with their funny hair for longer, but Hermione finally did find and learn its counter spell and a good long three days later their hair was right as rain again.

Well, as right as Hermione's bush could get...

And the fact that they had unexpected visitors the next day only had Hermione's neon green hair sparking red and blue every now and then.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN** : Warning - This is completely a filler... Though I hope Weasley Twins fans like it.

 **Chapter 15:**

"Granger that color does nothing for you!" Fred exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think this would look much better!" George agreed and in a quick second Hermione's hair was red and golden.

"That's one way to show you're a Gryffindor always," Ron chuckled but held his tongue when Hermione gave him the evil eye.

"How did you change my hair? Do you know the spell used?" Hermione turned towards the twins, backtracking them to a corner in the tent but her hair turned neon green again. "GAH!" she screamed in frustration. "Never mind." Huffing she went back to her chair where she was reading on the various charms to bring Ginny's and her hair back to normal. "Malfoy, once I'm done here, you're gonna be one dead wizard," she muttered under her breath.

"Well, at least I'll die knowing I finally bested the smartest witch of the age," Draco winked cheekily at the fuming witch adding further fuel to her anger before disappearing into his room.

"GAH!" Hermione scrunched her fists and eyes in frustration.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

As the day rolled by, Harry and Ron pulled everyone out for their now daily swim followed by the soccer session with the shape shifters.

The twins had already walked through the town during the day to get their bearings and so they knew exactly where everyone was headed.

"I said no," Hermione pressed vehemently, trying to shake her hands free of their hard grasp.

"And we said yes," they chorused.

"You work too hard, Granger," George said.

"Time to let your green hair down for a bit," Fred seconded his twin.

Together, they grasped her hand and cracked away, appearing just a second later as they apparated to an otherwise covered part of the beach.

"How did you find this place?" Draco asked when he popped in beside them.

Several cracks followed his arrival.

"We didn't _find_ this," Fred said.

"We _made_ it." George added.

"We put some wards to keep muggles away and us safe from prying eyes and set up the apparition marker and here we are, our own slice of heaven on the foreign lands," they both grinned together. "And now we have work to do here…"

Saying that they hoisted Hermione between them when she refused to accompany the group into the water, jostling and then throwing her in the cool sea. Trying to hold on to the twins while at the same time trying to get them to set her back on the floor, she hit the lashing waves hard and found herself underwater before breaking to the surface a few seconds later.

"I'm gonna get you two back for this," Hermione swore irritably.

And the laughter continued all evening through.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The next morning, when Lupin and Tonks popped into the tent with a few others, for the coaching of the practice sessions, chaos ensued.

Lupin got busy with the Weasley twins, the three working on setting everything up for the practice on a clearing the twins had found close to the tent the previous day.

Tonks had promptly turned her brown hair into bubblegum pink to match with _her girlfriends_ she winked while Luna charmed hers an electric blue. It was only after a lot of relentless and quite strategic questioning from Hermione, that Luna finally gave her the information she sought.

The hair colour charm was printed in an issue of Quibbler about two years ago!

"Who would've thought you read The Quibbler, Malfoy?" Hermione asked him while learning the correct wand movements of the counter-curse.

"It was a bad year. I sought information everywhere," Draco shrugged, making an earnest effort to not think of his sixth year.

"I think green looked quite nice on you, Hermione, though I'm sure you must be partial to your natural chestnut colored hair," Luna smiled at Hermione, keeping her hair the same shocking shade of blue that she'd charmed it to be as they all made their way to the clearing.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Looks like Hermione's finally managed to correct her hair," Paul snickered as the group of shape shifters got closer to the wizarding one.

"Yep," Embry grinned. "And Draco still has his on, so Leah you can breathe out a sigh of relief any time now."

"Shut up!" Leah huffed, pushing her shoulder into Embry's side as she walked past him towards the clearing.

"Hey! Looks like we have some new entrants," Quil interjected, then pointed out the new people to Embry and Paul. "Check out their hair," he then sniggered.

"You think Draco got them too?" Embry asked.

"Nope, this was all them," Ginny answered their question, "Tonks is a metamorphamagus and can change her features at will. Luna is… well she's Luna.. so when she saw Mione and me sporting that ridiculous hair, she charmed her own! It was through her that Mione found out how to right our hair, though, so I can't complain," she added, flashing them a saccharine sweet, daring them to laugh at the two new witches.

"Well, I'm glad you've managed to change it into your own fiery red again," Seth said, stepping in beside Ginny.

"You're already on thin ice Sethy-boy. Choose your words with care," Ginny warned Seth, the fire of her hair somehow reflecting in her eyes.

Seth gulped nervously. "I only meant that…" He looked down at the ground beneath his feet and mumbled. "I've been wanting to take you out for some time now. But then we fought. And then your hair was flashing and you couldn't go out to any place muggle… and I don't know wizarding places… but now that you're hair's alright, maybe you could come out with me for dinner sometime?"

"Oh!" Ginny blushed, copying Seth's embarrassed stance and staring at the ground too.

Seth nervously rubbed his neck, but when Ginny continued walking past him, he brought his hand out, fastening it on her wrist and pulled her to him. He then used his fingers of the other hand to push her face up to look at him. "So, will you? Go out to dinner with me?" he asked again, looking deeply into Ginny's eyes.

Before she could respond though, two pops sounded on either side of Seth and the red heads they had seen at the clearing not few seconds back were standing amidst them now.

"Hear that, Georgie? This bloke's asking our _dear_ _little_ _sister_ out! How… brave.."

"And stupid!" George added.

 _Stupid?_ Seth wondered.

George continued. "Freddie, do you think this _kid_ is really that dumb? To think he'd be able to talk _our_ young little sister into accepting a date with him, while we and Ron are sharing her living space? Not to mention Bill, our eldest, is on his way here too?"

 _Speak of rotten timing!_ Seth harrumphed in his mind. _If only I'd asked her out earlier…_

"If you two think, you all have suddenly gained a right to run my life for me just because mum's not here. Think. Bloody. Again. Not only will I not be _smuggling out_ but I'll go on that date tonight! I'll dress up, look all of you in the eye and make my exit!" Ginny stomped her foot for good measure then turned to Seth again. "Pick me up at six tonight. We're going for a dinner date," she announced and then briskly walked away.

The twins then proceeded to rest their elbows on Seth's shoulder, arresting him between themselves and then snickered. "You're welcome," the one on his right winked.

"But do anything to hurt her again and we will give you boils in the most _un_ - _orthodox_ of places," the other one warned and in sync the two popped out, just as suddenly as they'd come.

Every shape-shifter around paused with their mouth hanging open but just then, Sam had reached the clearing and bellowed for them to proceed and they quickly picked up speed and did their alpha's bidding.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hermione had been busy since the crack of dawn with Remus, Tonks, Malfoy and the twins, setting up the place for the combat practice. They were using a new spell The Unspeakables had invented for Auror training. The simplicity of the idea and the complexity of the spell had Hermione in the highest of spirits all morning long.

"Someone's cheery," Jacob greeted her. He had looked for the her the second the clearing had come into view and as soon as he'd spotted her, he had made a beeline towards her.

"Jacob!" Hermione exclaimed, her dazzling smile not once leaving her face. "Hi."

"Hi yourself," Jacob replied, unable to look away from her flushed face. Her hair was back to its normal rich chestnut, as riotous as ever, flying every which way at the slightest provocation by any passing breeze. She was sweating, her brow beaded with a few droplets and her t-shirt clinging to parts of her body he couldn't help but notice. _Well, I'm still a teenager!_ he reasoned. Her cheeks were flushed with colour and her eyes shone with her excitement.

"What's got you so happy, this early in the day?" Jake asked, unable to stop himself.

"Oh it's this new spell I learned…"

"For your hair?" he asked quizzically.

"No, you prat," she smacked his arms, wincing as she hurt her hand too. Jake chuckled but moved closer to inspect her hand.

"Oh, I'm fine. Don't have to crowd me over for some minor wincing," Hermione chastised, but smiled again. "Like I was saying… it's this new spell. We've placed on a particular type of magical creature that can take the form of our worst fear – we called them bogarts. So now, not only can these creatures, turn into our worst fears, but we can spell them to multiply and also take various forms at the same time! That way, we can really train for the most extreme of circumstances."

"So, you're happy with the whole training material? That's all that's got you so flushed? It has nothing to do with the two guys whom I saw surrounding you last night at the beach?"

"What two guys?" Hermione questioned, then shook herself as the answer occurred to her. "Fred and George?"

"You called?" the two suddenly appeared beside Hermione as if her speaking their names to Jake had somehow reached their ears.

"No. Were you snooping?"

"Not at all, Granger," Fred said, shaking his head. "But I like it that that's where your mind first went."

"We were only coming back from helping that poor bloke to score a date with our sister…" George was saying when both Hermione and Jacob cut in.

"You know that sounds weird, right?" Hermione asked.

"You helped Seth get a date with Ginny? Your own sister? Despite knowing of imprinting, I'd happily strangle the guy that would even dare to look at any of my sisters that way," Jake said vehemently.

"You hypocritic git," Hermione looked shocked at Jacob's words.

"You're despicable," Fred agreed.

"We like you," George grinned.

"That being said, shall we start?" cut in Draco's voice impatiently. "Granger, you and I are going in first. Tonks and Lupin have already put all the enchantments up, so move it."

Scowling Hermione walked towards Draco. "Aren't we cheerful."

"You know how much I hate early mornings!" Draco grumbled, the three other boys making small talk and walking behind the two.

 **AN** : Fireworks coming up in the next chapters though... One of our favorite couples might just sort of their differences soon and the other may finally see what's literally staring them in the face! No promises though... Let's see what my little bunny comes up with! ;)

Also, can any of you recommend some good SiriusxHermione where Hermione is either James' or Lily's sister fanfic? Preferably complete? I keep coming across abandoned ones! :(

Also, any TwilightxHP crossover with Hermione in the lead or a GeorgexHermione? Again, completed ones if possible.

In fact, any completed fanfic that you think is a good read... KINDLY do suggest. I'm suddenly left with a lot of reading time on my hands!


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

Jacob stood back with his pack. The coven of vampires had just about made it to the clearing before the start of the training, Bella, of course, being in tow with them. But Jacob was too pre-occupied to pay her much mind, something that did not go unnoticed by Bella or her vampire.

The new group of wizards that had arrived to help with the training were introduced to everyone. The fact that Embry swore quite colourfully before blanching when the blue haired girl was introduced and she muttered something about some Rolf being very disappointed by the new turn of events was simply overlooked by everyone present with advanced hearing. Their soft mutterings weren't even heard by any of the others.

Carlisle was then offered the centre of the set up to speak to all about the vampires in their new-born stage. Once the theoretical data base was well established, Lupin took the centre stage again.

"Now before we begin the actual combat training, we thought we'd give you a demo on how we fight. We, the wizarding folk, do not really do a hand-to-hand combat but are more into a wand-to-wand combat," Lupin cracked a small smile at his own joke. "Our spells are meant to hurt and kill when in a war, so if a wayward beam of light hits you, well….." he trailed off with a grave expression. "Hence the Order has deemed it fit to first let you see exactly what it is that we do and then we can club our strengths and chart out a plan to wipe out the new-born army from the ground up. Any questions?"

With a curt nod when no sound was made, Lupin moved away making way for Tonks, Draco and Hermione.

"These are the two have unfortunately pulled the shorter rubber wands today, so you'll be seeing them duelling the few despicable things we've managed to put inside of this enchanted bubble," Tonks started. Jacob grinned at Hermione making her blush in embarrassment while Malfoy scowled at his cousin.

"Gee, thanks cuz," Draco glared at Tonks who winked right back at him.

"Well, as I was saying, my darling _little cousin_ and my dear friend will step into the centre of this plain field. We've placed a few different spells and have a few enchanted magical creatures that will then try to attack them, while they, of course, will try to defend themselves and arrest the creatures. There's also this new little modification that I've made on the charms," Tonks continued, this time turning to look at Draco and Hermione instead of the group around them, "which will make everything within the circle feel very real. Also," she turned back to the audience, "the circle where the combat is to take place is warded to keep anyone else from entering it so that no one ends up hit with a wayward spell. I hope you all understand everything we want to show you about a wizarding fight with this endeavour so we can start with all the trainings soon after." And with that Tonks was gone.

"Ready, Granger?" Draco offered her his hand right after Hermione had pinned all her hair back. She nodded and took it, "Always," and together they entered the enchanted set up.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"See anything yet?" Draco asked, squinting his eyes to see as far as he could. The anticipation in their minds and the tensions in their joints doing no favours to their overall anxiety. "It must have been several minutes since we came in but there's still not a sound," Draco frowned.

"Seeing how Professor Lupin actually put this up, it's very likely he's charmed the place to make us feel that way," Hermione said, always the tone reason.

Outside their bobble, Remus flashed a crooked smile. "She's right. I did."

Inside though, not a sound from the outside reached. "Maybe, but that doesn't help me now, does it?" Draco snapped. "There's not a fu…"

"Did you hear that?" the two asked, but each looking at two opposite sides. Turning towards the other, they nodded and split.

"Mistake no. 1 – never split. If you're given a partner, stick your back to theirs until you're dead or you've killed everyone around," Lupin said.

The duo inside soon proved his point as they started throwing curses and hexes in most every which way as they were attacked by nefarious creatures and plants alike.

With a few cuts and bruises and a lot of swearing from the outside that did not really make it inside, the magical duo triumphed over the inner demons, but just barely. It was gone a few good long minutes, making it feel like at least half an hour to the duo in the set-up when Draco froze in shock, his inner-most fear coming to life right there in front of him.

"Draco," his father's aristocratic voice slid like cold ice all over his skin, making it break into goose-bumps. "You don't have to do this anymore. The Dark Lord's gone, but we can still propagate his agenda, take forth his work and finish what he had started. There are still quite a few of us left unscathed – some undercover, like me, some on the run, like Dolohov. We can bring them all back together and take the ministry down. It's only a matter of time…"

"No!" Draco vehemently shook, his enter body displaying his refusal. "No, we can't, father. It'll kill mother this time. We.. we can't do that to her. You can't do that me. _Not again_. I promised myself, I won't ever do anything of that sort. _Never again_."

"You stupid boy. Think of the glory, Draco. Cleansing our society of all those Mudblood beings and their sullied blood. Taking the muggles down will simply be an act of ease. Only we, the Sacred 28, that are truly superior shall reign as we were meant to over the half-breeds and the half-bloods."

"No," Draco closed his eyes and shook his head. "NO!" he yelled, louder this time. And then he did something that he'd never thought he could. He held his wand out and cursed his father.

Never one to lose in a fight quickly, much to his horror, Draco saw Lucius grabbing his own wand and fire a spell at him.

At the very last possible second Draco jumped away, the flying curse missing him by mere inches. The tree behind him wasn't as lucky though, and it burst into a zillion pieces, some of it even catching fire and it rained shards of wood inside the bobble.

Fallen, disoriented, his face smeared with mud and blood, Draco just managed to catch a glimpse of Hermione on the side furthest from him, advancing quite carefully towards a bush, and from Draco's angle, sprawled as he was on the ground, he could make out that there was quite clearly something ferocious hiding behind the dense foliage, waiting to spring on his partner.

But he couldn't scream his warning.

A curse hit him, before he could get up or warn Hermione and then he was held by the scruff of his collar and pulled back by his father, only to be thrown up and ahead with a force that wasn't quite human, landing him once again on his face. The only saving grace through it all was that he didn't lose his wand, somehow.

"Enough," Draco roared, pissed beyond reason. "You are choosing this fate for yourself, once more. But I refuse to be a party to it all, this time." And he fired hexes without a forethought, their legality going from barely to none, but he didn't quite care, for from the corner of his eyes he saw Hermione facing her worst nightmare…

Paul watched as Draco fell flat on his face. He restrained Leah when she stiffened and made a move towards the wizard. "You heard what they said. This is only for practise. You don't want to be hit by a wayward spell, now, do you?"

Leah growled at the guy she once thought as friend but was quickly turning into a nemesis, restraining her from helping out her imprint. She didn't give a damn about him, or anyone else for that matter. If her imprint hurt, she'd bloody tear that long blond-haired guy apart, and Paul would be a close second for keeping her away from Draco when he needed her.

Growling loudly again, she made a move jerk Paul's hand off, when a scream tore across the still air.

Hermione's scream, Leah belated identified….

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Jacob turned his attention from the scuffle beside him back to the fighting arena and watched in horror as his witch stood frozen in place, a crazy-looking woman moving maniacally towards her…

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Draco finally petrified and body-bound his father, neither caring nor waiting to watch as it slumped to the ground, as he made a mad dash towards Hermione, who had somehow forgotten the use of her up-stretched wand and only stared as his aunt advanced towards her with an unbridled glee shining in her eyes.

"Mudblood," chuckled a quiet voice from yet another side as the lanky figure of Antonin Dolohov came ahead, from beside Bellatrix and they both advanced towards Hermione at the same time.

"Use your bloody wand, Granger!" Draco screamed with all his might, trying to get Hermione out of her shock. But he could see, his words weren't penetrating her catatonia, and with a sinking feeling he realized she was already under a spell. _There's got to be a third here somewhere_ he realized with panic.

He wasn't gonna be able to reach her on time! But he so needed to so something! He tried the only spell he thought might work, his mind too occupied with other strategies to think things through.

"Finite Incantetum," he yelled with his wand pointed straight at Hermione. The surge of light hit her, just as Draco leapt into the air, his body contracting and changing…

Mid-leap he had finished his transformation and what landed quite close to Hermione's sprinting form was a large jackal unlike any anyone had ever seen. He was big enough to rival the sizes of the small, compact muggle cars, his coat a pure platinum white, probably the only thing apart from his cold, arctic grey eyes that gave away the truth behind the phased animal.

All the non-magicals stood stunned at the new development. Except two.

One who had stopped bickering and one who hadn't really given anything else much thought after seeing his imprint frozen in place. Like one, they shape-shifting duo jumped into the foyer, the tearing of their clothes the only portentous sound in the otherwise still-din around the arena.

And what was more, the barrier Lupin had painstakingly erected around the field gave up and two freshly phased wolves jumped into the mix, making Remus' jaw literally make contact with the forest floor. _How did they do that?_

Hermione sprinted in the opposite direction from the band of the approaching Death Eaters, throwing hexes behind her back without really caring who it hit. A large russet wolf, quite larger than the other animal already chasing a gangly man in the other direction, landed with a loud thud close to her and just behind him, landing perfectly on all fours was a grey coated vixen, similar in size to the white jackal. Both new wolves were already throwing themselves in front of their wizard and witch respectively, if it only meant that they'd be saved from whatever their _friends_ had concocted.

It took a second for Hermione to realize what had just happened, but the quick-thinking witch that she was, she immediately rectified her error and gestured to the wolf to move the other way.

The wolf obviously paid her no heed, moved in on her, manoeuvring his bulky body in just the right way to catch her over himself as she leapt, avoiding a yellow beam that was shot at her. Between one second and the next, Hermione was at atop a rather large wolf, who was putting his all into outrunning the spells thrown at her.

Despite what was conspiring around them, Hermione felt her heart turn, _he'd jumped into the unknown just for her_. Jacob gave her a small shake, rising slightly on his hind legs to get her to catch his coat tightly.

It worked.

She made a mad grab for his fur, almost hurting him with her death-grip, but he didn't pay it any heed. And just as suddenly as he had entered the arena, he turned around, his actions too quick for his bulky form, and charged at the two, the crazed woman from before and a rather large and bulky man who reeked something awful, who were both throwing hurtful spells at Hermione.

In one leap he had the bulky man under him, and uncaring about him not being a vampire at all, he tore at his neck, finishing him off in one go. The woman turned out to be trouble but not enough for new team of Jacob and Hermione to conquer together.

And conquer her, they did. A few well-aimed spells later, Hermione had Bellatrix's body wound tight enough to choke her and levitated it close to what was once Fenrir's body but was now the corpse of a bogart, its face horribly mauled and not quite recognizable while its beaten body secreted a bluish substance that looked too sticky. _Their blood, probably,_ the academic in her reasoned out.

Meanwhile on the other side of the clearing, two canines were reeling from shock after shock.

Being the accomplished occlumens that he was, he'd never had anyone breeching his defences and entering his mind, the Dark Lord himself included. But that went down the drain when the two unnaturally large wolves entered the foyer. He heard, saw, smelled and felt every single thought and emotion running amok in their minds and with a breaking heart he realised, they could do the same for him.

Draco felt Jacob's confusion, followed quickly by his hatred when he realized it was Draco's aunt that was trying to finish _his Hermione_ off. And he didn't even have words to explain what went through his entire being when Leah found his intimate connection with the man she had come to save him from.

"You bloody raccoon. I will peel you alive if anyone from your family so much as hurts a damn hair on her head," he heard Jacob growling straight in his head and then he saw him making a bee-line for Hermione, not giving either of them any other thought.

But this confusion cost Draco dearly, as he felt two different spells hit him, one on his back and one just getting the far end of his tail, setting it on fire.

Leah quickly rubbed his smoking tail on the dry ground to extinguish the fire and then moved in beside him to help.

"Draco…. Snap out of it…" Leah urged desperately trying to get through to him. "That man's getting away and… your father…" she gulped, "is coming around."

That snapped him out of it. He began his chase after Dolohov, Leah leaping through in front of him, cutting an impressive figure in her large yet lithe form as she pinned the lanky man under herself. She was just about to bite his head off when a beam from the other side put him down. Looking up in consternation she saw Hermione pulling back her wand and nodded at the witch.

Draco, too, had reached his father. And not too early too, as his reins had just set free. _Not yet, you don't,_ he thought and saw another beam of light hit the squirming man. "You're a disgrace," the falling figure growled lowly, "I raised you better than that, Draco." And with that, he was levitated away.

Draco felt the wards around him changing and knew that the set-up was being brought down. But he needed a few answers himself, before he went on to speak to the others.

"Leah," Draco tried speaking to her through the new-found mind link he had with her.

In response, he heard her purr in his mind and felt a shiver run through her body. Despite his own animagus form, he felt the answering growl rising lowly in his throat and Leah saw his large silver eyes darkening.

"Come with me. We need to talk." She didn't need to be told twice. Just as the last ward was brought down, the two sprinted away.

Jacob, who still had Hermione on his back, wanted nothing more than to follow them out, knowing he needed some time alone with his own imprint, but he also knew then was not the time. His imprint was nothing if not responsible, and simply dashing away with him, without really caring for anything else was something he was sure she would never do.

 _Later_ he thought in his mind as he sat down on his fours, making it easy for her to dismount him and then he ran to the cover of the woods to pull on some pants he'd kept hidden in a bag there along with his packmates for cases of emergency phasing.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

When they'd made it to the inner-most parts of the woods, with the dense foliage giving them a good thick cover, "Phase," he thought in his mind and both, himself and Leah did so almost at the same time.

"What the fuck was that?"

"How the hell did you and that brute get into my head?"

Draco fired the questions one after the other, almost breathlessly. "How did…" but then he suddenly he scrunched up his face, "Merlin's right tit, woman!" he swore. "Why on earth are you naked?"

Leah coloured up hotly. She'd phased right there, in front of him, just as soon as Draco had asked, without sparing its repercussions any thought. By the time he'd finished his first question, she'd realised she was the only one without clothes on and since then had been trying in vain to cover herself up.

Quickly unbuttoning his shirt, muddied and slightly torn though it was, Draco pulled it out of the waistband of his trousers and slipped it off his shoulders, offering her the shirt while keeping his gaze completely averted to avoid from seeing more than he already had. "Here," he said in a rare show of care and compassion, holding his shirt out for her, "wear this."

Leah gawked, staring at the back of his platinum blond hair and then at proffered shirt.

"Quickly, Leah, before I change my mind," he smirked, still looking the other way.

Leah saw the light twitch of his cheeks and heard the humor in his voice. So she grabbed his shirt before he actually did change his mind and turned around to button it up, thankful for the few inches he had on her – height as well as built wise, making his shirt large and long enough for her to drown in. With great effort she restrained herself from taking deep long breaths to inhale _his_ heady musky odor that his shirt was giving off in aces.

"If you're done dreaming with open eyes, may I have my answers, please?" Draco snapped her out of her girly thoughts.

 _Focus, Malfoy!_ Draco chided himself, trying to get his mind to behave and _not_ think of the different things he wanted to do to the girl in front of him who was literally, for all intents and purposes, his new betrothed and who was completely naked under _his shirt_ that was practically drowning her. The sheer effort that simple task took, made him snappy.

"Answers, Leah!" he snapped yet again when he caught her almost drooling at the sight of his naked chest. If she kept that up, he wasn't going to last long and then he should definitely not be held responsible for his actions. He grunted, _fat chance_. With his track record, he'd probably be hexed first and questioned later.

Snapping is fingers in front of her face to get her attention back on his talks rather than his body, "Up here, Leah, up here," he said, his fingers pointing at his eyes, making Leah crane her head back just that tiny bit to follow his instructions.

"Try speaking anytime now….."

"I…" Leah swallowed a few times and wet her lips for a good measure. Draco groaned again.

Taking it the wrong way, she cracked, "I don't know, okay? I just don't know anything anymore! What is happening, why is it happening… Nothing… I haven't been aware of much since the past few weeks now. One look at you and all my world collapsed on itself! Today, when I saw you… almost in mortal peril…. I thought I'd lose you even before I truly had you… and I couldn't let that happen, okay? You mean just too much to me. I don't care about your family, your past or any other thing that makes you so bitterly _you_ , so untouchable and unapproachable. I only want to be a part of your future, if you'll let me, of course. I don't know why the mind link hmmmm…"

And Leah was abruptly stopped from her teary confessions by Draco as he entangled his pale hand in her short black hair, pulled her face close to his and covered her mouth with his own.

"It's been a long time coming," he said breaking the kiss, and just as swiftly captured her soft lips with his own hard ones, nibbling on her lower lip to make her open her mouth and accept his dominance. And Leah was just too glad to surrender.

"I tried, Draco. I tried so many times to tell you…. I was just so scared… unsure of how you'd react…" she said as he let her mouth go for a few stolen breaths, getting busy with her neck during that little time, though he was back to her lips just as soon.

"Water under the bridge," Draco clucked his tongue, shook his head and captured her mouth again, as Leah finally gave in to temptation and shyly moved her hands over his lean and fit torso, feeling small knots tying up inside of her as his skin rippled under her touch.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Did you know you guys are sharing a dress?" George asked, his eyebrows almost lost in his hair when he saw Draco and the only girl of the wolf gang walking back to the clearing together.

Hand-in-hand.

Sharing a dress.

"Gee, thanks, Weasel twin. I didn't realize she had my shirt on," Draco rolled his eyes, pulling Leah closer to him when he felt the nervous tension creeping back in her. "Don't be embarrassed," he smiled down at her, pecking her lips lightly again and giving rise to a lot of cat-calling.

"I'm taking it that you guys had a talk?" Seth said, trying his level best to not grimace at the scene playing out in front of him.

Leah scowled at her brother's expression but turned to Draco, "I have some clothes nearby. Ill just quickly change and be back."

Draco tilted his chin to acquiescent, and followed her with his eyes as she made her way to the thicker woods. When she was out of sight though, he sighed. _Now for facing the music…_


	18. Chapter18

Chapter 18:

"So you're saying you imprinted on Hermione due to which you can actually trace her back to any place. Nothing can stop you from getting to her if you should so wish?"

Jacob nodded. "That's the magic of the imprint. No one can keep her away from me. No one apart from her that is. If she tells me to go away... then that's a different story."

Remus nodded. He understood the magic of soulmates better than most. He'd found his not too long back, after all. Unconsciously, his eyes searched for Dora, his lips breaking into a soft smile when he saw her looking at him. He turned back to Jacob who hadn't missed a thing.

"You're one of us, aren't you? And she," Jacob said pointing at Tonks who was now looking and talking with Luna and Ginny, "is your imprint, isn't she?"

Lupin considered his response. "Yes and no," he finally said. "Yes, I am like you guys but just not quite like you. I am a true werewolf, the complete venom in the bite, full-moon forced changed version of it. Dora, or Tonks as she will insist you call her, is my wife, my better half, my soul-mate, the other half of my life force. She lives, I live, she dies, I die with her. Not even death can part us."

Jacob, and most of his gang nodded in understanding. Only, in their case, the imprint held all the cards. "So, is it common, in your world? People like you and us?" Sam asked curiously.

"No. Thank Merlin, werewolves aren't too common. We're true monsters..."

"No, your not!" Tonks spanked Remus up his head. "You're not a monster, just my cute little magical creature," she insisted, pinching his cheeks and pressing a sweet kiss on his lips that made Remus' ears go red.

He cleared his throat, then loudly again to get it to work, "And speaking of cute little magical creatures, maybe its time we go back to ours?"

"Yes, darling. I'm on my way. I'll see at home later," Tonks grinned and waved a goodbye to those around and twisted on the spot.

Remus rubbed his nape for a few seconds before going back to the discussion at hand. "So.. where were we? Ah, yes, werewolves as well as shape-shifters are pretty rare. But the magical folk can shift shape, as you saw Draco do. It requires a lot of concentration, meditation and rather focused amount of magic, but, with proper training they can turn animagus – into an animal their inner selves most resemble. Though, if I'm being honest, most of the animagi I know have achieved it by themselves, with a lot of reading and self-discipline."

"So, who all can change amongst them?" asked Paul, jutting his chin out in the general direction of the group of magical folks outside. "If we are working together, we should know them in their other forms too. Just in case..."

Remus thought about it long and hard, his eyes not once leaving the brown ones of Paul who had started sweating profusely under the collar of his tight t-shirt. Yet, Remus being Remus, needed all the information before sharing such sensitive knowledge with a tribe of shape-shifting teenagers, so he got right down to it.

And as the minutes ticked by, Jacob just knew he was in for a long meeting with the werewolf before any of them made it home that day.

...

"What to you think about this?" Sam asked the tribe's Elders that evening, his pack sitting behind him with the Elders in front of them all, the two groups facing each other.

"They have seen you in both your forms, it's only fair you do the same," replied Billy sagely.

"Yes, but aren't they speaking of bringing in ferocious werewolves onto our lands for that?" asked Sue, suppressing the shiver if fear running down her spine.

"NO!" Leah emphatically stated. It was towards the middle of the long meeting that afternoon that the werewolf they were talking with had asked Draco to come by and shift so he could understand what changes the shape-shifters noticed in his two forms as compared to himself. And Draco had simply taken the opportunity to sit in on the remainder of the meeting and by the end of it, acquiesced to an equal exchange of information, if they let the two werewolves under the Order's banner transform with them during the full moons to follow for as long as the two werewolves wished to do so.

"Transforming is difficult as it is, but doing it alone... all the more so. We have two werewolves recruited in the Order, one Remus here and another one, a classmate of ours. You let them be around during full moons and at least two of us will be there with them. Slowly and steadily, you'll learn everything you want to."

"That seems unfair, you know everything about us," Sam's eye had twitched.

Draco had, frustratingly enough for the alpha, smirked. "I never asked you to bare-all to us. I'm a Slytherin through and through, I will hold my cards close to my chest. You decide what you'd like to do and we can talk again tomorrow."

That had been that, but Leah knew, Draco would never willing harm any of them, so she was sure that if the werewolves were allowed on their lands, they would be able to subdue them.

"No, Maman. These werewolves that Draco said should be allowed here, are given some special medicine that let's them keep their wits about, so they aren't some killing machine. They only get lonely that makes their forced change that much difficult for them. And who else will understand tehir plight better than us? Despite it all, we too are forced into this. Not one of us has chosen this; yes, we are all proud and happy to be here," Leah added, after listening to the muttering of her packmates, throwing in a good eyeroll, "but none of us chose this."

The Elders sat back and watched the lone girl shifter with narrowed eyes for a long while before finally agreeing. "Do what you think best," Billy added but the Eldest Elder shook his head. "Allow them only one this time. See how it goes for us, then you ca welcome them both next time," he said in his gravelly voice before wobblingly standing up and making a painful walk back towards the door they had all entered from.

...

Lavender was in one of those moods. She was in a muggle neighborhood and it was pouring like there was no tomorrow. She looked a fright with her hair plastered all over her neck and back, her tee for some reason stooping low to show the missing chuck of her flesh from where Fenrir had taken a chunk out of her before Hermione had killed him. She was sure the entirety of the town was out on the streets to stare at her as she made her way, shivering and swearing, towards the forest. And to top it all up, it was full moon that night!

Damn the rains! She thought for the umpteenth time. Her portkey right into the forest had been cancelled due the atrocious weather, and yet thanks to that time of the month she had refused the warm bed the American Ministry had offered her in lieu of making her way to Forks via muggle means!

AKA NO FUCKING MAGIC!!

She couldn't conjure herself an umbrella. She couldn't cast any drying or warming spells on herself. And she so couldn't just apparate because she had no idea of how the place she was to go to looked like!

Apparition was difficult for her at the best of times, and now, in her mood and mental and physical state, it was simply out of question. So she did what she thought muggles did in situations like these and fervently prayed to all and any deities that were listening for even a minor sight or sound of anyone from the Order.

Seriously, even Malfoy will do!! Please!!

And yet, her prayers were left unanswered. She trudged her way blindly, hoping against hope she would happen upon some part of the forest soon for the sky was steadily darkening despite the clearing of the grey clouds.

Fucking brilliant! Of course, the moon will rise just that much earlier tonight!!

Salvation came in the form of a long line of trees that looked pretty thick from where she was standing and she pulled in every last bit of her failing energy before sprinting towards it. A few minutes into the dense greenery, she left go. Her knees buckled, no longer able to support her and she fell onto the forest floor, face first, backpack and all.

She saw the light gust of condensation that blew out of her mouth as her face hit the forest floor before everything went dark.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

"I can't fucking believe I'm voluntarily searching for a werewolf on the night of a full moon," Draco grumbled as he expertly wielded his wand to cut off the vines too close to their feet while Hermione and him made their way across the forest to look for Lavender or her werewolf form as it sure was to be by now, Draco sighed, looking with loathing at the bright, big orb shining away ominously in the dark sky above.

Hermione who till then was using her wand as a makeshift torch, palmed her face. "Why didn't I think of this earlier?" she grumbled to herself and 'noxed' the light emitting from her wand before whispering a soft 'point me'. The wand stood still, without even tremble when she asked it for directions to Lavender. She tried again with a werewolf intonation and the wand went crazy, spinning all over.

Draco quickly grabbed her wand with his honed skills and passed it back to Hermione. "Too many in the area. Her werewolf form has no name and the boys all turn to wolves, so.." he trailed off leaving her to fill the blanks.

"Where do you think she could be?"

"I'm hoping she's in the forest. But with our luck, I'm praying to Merlin she isn't anywhere close to the muggles in the town or the settlement."

Silently, Hermione nodded. "Harry and Ron are manning the city boundaries and the twins are at the part closer to the highway. Luna and Ginny are with Seth inside the town with Jasper and Alice. The other vampires are circling their side of the forest and the wolves, theirs. We just need to secure parameter here. I was thinking of setting up some spells that'll alert us to werewolf presence here and then we can keep moving and doing the same at the other areas so we can try to determine the area she's at."

Nodding, Draco took one side while Hermione started whispering the same spells at the other, slowly the two continued to secure the area allotted to them.

…

A rogue vampire had tried to gain access into their area the same unfortunate night and so the reservation wolves had all left chasing behind him, leaving only Paul behind to man their sector of the forest. "All the magical folks and the leeches are here. Paul, you stay. Everyone else follow me," Sam had bellowed and his pack had left in a blur of furry asses. And Paul was angry! He wanted to be a part of that action.. not.. not _babysit_!

"Cut it out!" Embry growled through the link, "we're almost done here," and that's when he heard it. A portentous howl that wasn't from any of their own.

"Got you," Paul snickered, sharply turning towards the direction of the lonely howl. He flashed a menacing smile into the dark night and flew through the forest to reach the werewolf.

…

"This way," Carlisle whispered, knowing his family would hear him and they all moved towards the sound, leaping through the trees.

…

It took Draco and Hermione a second longer to react as they waited to seal the magic they had cast before making their way towards the sound.

"Hey! Isn't that the vamp area?" Draco asked, brows furrowed as if searching for something that was just out of his grasp. He knew it in his bones that it was an important piece of information. The unsettled feeling in his stomach assuring him that he'd missed a crucial part on the plans..

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Oh, shit!" He heard Hermione swear and knew she had come to the same conclusion. "We need to warn them!"

Draco was sure the time for _warning_ would be long past by the time they made it to the source of the threatening sound but he wisely did not voice out his thoughts. They were going to need all of their energy to subdue a fully formed werewolf who'd be on very high adrenaline, _or its werewolf version_ , when faced with its mortal enemy in heavy multiples. _Merlin help them!_

"We've really done it this time," Hermione was shaking her head, probably at her own oversight, and the two continued to run through the forest.

…

Paul reached just as the werewolf hid itself behind a rather large tree trunk getting ready to pounce on the doctor and for a split-second, second guessed his decision to involve himself in the fight. _A vampire down was one threat less, right?_

"Don't you dare!" Sam growled through the link and Paul felt his large furry body shudder at the tone of his alpha. "GO!" Sam barked the order and Paul felt his limbs carrying him towards the werewolf. _It smelled different_ , he registered just as he pounced on its back, flattening it on the ground. His moment of cockiness cost him though. A second of inattention was all it needed, and the werewolf was out of his grasp, hissing and snarling at him while circling him like a hunter.

Well, Paul was no one's prey and he returned the gesture in kind and what ensued had the spectators rooted to the spot. The wolf and werewolf launched into a fight for dominance and neither was willing to surrender.

A few good long minutes into the fray, Paul knew he wouldn't last. The werewolf definitely had more strength and stamina compared to him and that was saying something. "Hold on for a few more minutes. We're coming…" someone from his pack said, Jared probably but he was too busy trying to fight the werewolf to identify the voices running in his head.

Paul knew the vampires were trying to help. He saw them circling the fight, trying to get near but the werewolf was having none of it. Barring his teeth ferociously, it was single handedly keeping the small army of misfits busy.

And then suddenly it happened.

A white blur ran through the thick foliage and in their midst. Bella's mind-reader was right there, next to him and Paul could only count his lucky stars that at least one of the leeches and worth his salt, _ehm.. blood then_ , and was able to help Paul tackle the large beast to the ground.

And yet, it was all for naught.

…

It was instinct really that made Hermione howl into the night when she saw Lavender's werewolf form overthrowing one of the reservation wolves, even with Edward helping his nemesis. But when the vicious magical beast turned her yellowed eyes in her direction instead, Hermione's mind for once went blank.

This was all just too familiar. A boy by her side. A werewolf on her chase. And Hermione was lost.

 _Really, where was Buckbeak when you needed him the most?!_

…

Jacob's heart froze between one beat and the next. And he would later swear that in that single moment he knew exactly what a thousand deaths and an empty eternity all felt like...

His witch stood there, unable to move, hypnotized by the sight in front of her because right at that moment… the werewolf had taken a rather large leap…


End file.
